Center for a New American Security

The U.S. military is conducting another experiment. It is allowing Sadr City residents to form groups analogous to the predominantly Sunni “Awakening Councils” and “Sons of Iraq” (SoI) groups. According to the Washington Post:

U.S. military officials began planning the new program as early as May, when troops were engaged in deadly fighting in Sadr City. They wanted to base the initiative on a U.S. program known as the Awakening movement among Iraqis but called the "Sons of Iraq" program by Americans. About 103,000 men across the country are involved, and more than 80 percent are Sunnis, the military says.

Lt. Col. Frank Curtis, commander of a civil affairs battalion in Sadr City, was put in charge of creating a version of the program tailored to the Shiite area of more than 2 million people. As he prepared last month to present the program to a local Shiite leader, he took a standard proposal used elsewhere in the country and crossed out the words "Sons of Iraq."

Underneath it, he wrote: "Neighborhood watch." No one wanted Shiites to boycott the initiative because they thought it was tied to a program dominated by Sunnis.

[. . .]

The Americans have renamed the program "Neighborhood Guard." Eifler said the Iraqis told him the phrase "Neighborhood Watch" made them sound like spies.

“Neighborhood Watch”? “Neighborhood Guard”? Boring. Dr. iRack thinks “Sons of Sadr” (SoS) sounds much better. (Plus, you know, when you’re in trouble, you can put out an S.O.S. for an SoS).

Anyway, like the Sons of Iraq in Sunni areas, the SoSs are meant to provide local security—and, in this case, alternatives to JAM—in Sadr City. But, just as many of the Sunni security volunteers are “former” members of the Islamic Army or 1920 Revolutionary Brigades or other insurgent groups, there can be little doubt that many of SoS are JAMsters. JAM was always partly an employment opportunity for impoverished Shia youth. Now many of these same guys can get a paycheck from the Americans.

The young men acknowledged, however, that they were all at their posts to collect a wage in a district where unemployment is rampant. The $300 salaries are distributed by their leader, Bassim Abdullah Qassim, who said he was contracted by the U.S. military to hire and oversee 105 men over three months.

Lt. Col. Brian Eifler, commander of the U.S. battalion in Sadr City, said there was skepticism initially that Sadr City residents would volunteer to work with Americans. But he said the turnout has been overwhelming.

More than 270 people showed up one day last week looking for jobs in Jamila, he said, suggesting that fear of Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, is subsiding in at least some parts of Sadr City. All of the applicants are vetted by the U.S. military and must be vouched for by a tribal leader, Eifler said.

But Eifler said he does not inquire whether they belonged to the Mahdi Army. When asked if he hoped former militia members would apply, Eifler said: "Absolutely."

"They maybe were out riding the fence and now they have a chance for good solid employment," said Eifler, 39, of Detroit. "I think that's an opportunity."

In and of itself, it is not a problem if some JAMsters join these new U.S.-backed SoSs. Indeed, it could serve as a great mechanism to siphon off rank-and-file militants and gradually draw them into legitimate employment. But, as with recruitment of local security volunteers in Sunni areas, the program generates risks of blowback, especially if temporary employment contracts don’t become permanent.

Toting AK-47 assault rifles for a $300-a-month salary, the young men are viewed by U.S. officials as the best way to address a dearth of security forces in Sadr City, the site of bitter clashes this spring between U.S. forces and militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The officials hope the initiative will lead some militia supporters away from violence by paying them to protect the area.

But even officers helping to create the program acknowledge there is risk in supplying weapons to men who may have recently encouraged violence against U.S. troops. "Are these guys all going to be lily-white angels? No," said Maj. Byron Sarchet, information operations officer for the brigade responsible for Sadr City. "We need to tread lightly."

There is also the issue of arming even more militias that stand outside the state apparatus (cuz that is exactly what Iraq needs!). With the SoIs, the U.S. military emphatically argues that they don’t “arm” these groups—they simply pay guys who bring their own weapons to the fight. This is apparently not the case with the SoSs, however. For example:

The 11 men on duty Wednesday were carrying some of the 48 AK-47s that Qassim said the U.S. military supplied him Tuesday. He said that the Americans did not have enough weapons for all of the men at the moment, but that the Iraqi military pledged to provide the rest.

"Neither the American military nor the Iraqi army were supposed to hand us weapons -- each volunteer was supposed to bring his own from his house," Qassim said. But at an initial meeting of 65 guards, it turned out that only five owned rifles. "So the Americans realized they had to help."

Eifler said the AK-47s came from seized weapons caches and that the U.S. military would continue to provide them as needed to the guards.

"Guys can't just go out and buy an AK-47 -- there's no AK-47 store," he said. "So we'd rather make sure these guys are outfitted and give them a job instead of having them turned away."

So, here we go again. We are purchasing short-term stability and gambling that we can organize and control the forces of disorder. So far it’s worked out okay in Sunni areas, although there continue to be rumblings among Awakening groups. Dr. iRack hopes we can pull it off in Sadr City.