The Storm Widens
Wednesday, April 15, 2009,
Dahr Jamail
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One week after
Iraqi government forces arrested an Awakening Group (commonly
referred to as Sons of Iraq, al-Sahwa) leader, Adil al-Mashhadani,
head of a patrol unit in central Baghdad’s Fadhil neighborhood in
Baghdad, sparking gun battles that raged for hours between US-backed
Iraqi forces and US-allied Sunni militiamen that killed three
people, militiamen have once again been detained, widening concerns
that sectarian violence may once more engulf Baghdad. There are
50,000 Sahwa fighters in Baghdad alone.
While the Sahwa leader, who had been detained with 32 of his
fighters, was eventually released by the Iraqi government, tensions
grew in the wake of his detention as threats made by both sides
increased. Thus far, only 11 of the 32 others have been released.
Just days after the aforementioned detention, Iraqi forces arrested
two more Sahwa guards in the al-Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, which
is controlled by their forces. In an article for Truthout last week,
I voiced my concerns of these government attacks against Sahwa
forces spreading. I am surprised at the rapidity at which this is
occurring now, as this trend, if it continues, appears almost
certain to spark a dramatic flare of sectarian violence in the
capital city.
The Sahwa fighters, who once numbered 100,000 across Iraq according
to the US military, were backed and paid by US forces until the
Shiite-led Iraqi government took over the program last October, a
process that was completed this week. Payment to Sahwa leaders by
the US military, however, has shifted from overt payments to payment
in the form of “construction contracts” to key leaders.
That the treatment of the Sahwa forces by the Iraqi government is
largely seen as a barometer for the process of reconciliation does
not bode well for these recent events. Most of the Sahwa fighters
are former resistance fighters, who feared they would be arrested
for their previous attacks against the Iraqi government. For
example, Mashhadani was arrested, according to Iraqi government
officials, for running a bomb-making factory among other reasons.
Further complicating matters, in separate incidents last week, US
forces opened fire on a group of fighters they said could belong to
a Sahwa unit, killing one, after allegedly spotting them planting a
bomb. In addition, last Friday, Iraqi police arrested Hussam Alwan,
a Sahwa leader in the town of Muqtadiya, 50 miles northeast of
Baghdad.
On Sunday, April 5, two houses were blown up in the Abu Ghraib
district of west Baghdad, one of which belonged to a leader of the
local Sahwa group. A man was killed and two women wounded, municipal
officials said. Assuming this trend continues, the leadership of the
Sahwa groups under attack and the fighters under their control are
left with two choices: sit by and wait to be arrested or
assassinated, or begin to fight back. Thus far, we are seeing the
latter, and there is little reason to suspect this wonít increase
if the government continues with its policy.
As the threat of a resurgence of sectarian violence grows, black
funeral banners hang across Baghdad, ominous reminders that there is
no normal life in the war-ravaged country. The Los Angeles Times
reports , “At a time when the Iraqi government and US military speak
of lower death tolls, black banners drape the mosque walls and
traffic circles of Baghdad, telling a different story of a world
beyond statistics, where killings still ripple through society.
These disposable funeral banners, randomly read by drivers who pass
on the word about the drive-by shootings, bombings and
assassinations they document, remind ordinary Iraqis that nothing is
as it seems, that the embers of the recent civil war still burn.”
Meanwhile, violence continues across the country. A brief tally of
the last several days gives an idea of the situation in Iraq:
* Sunday, April 5: nine Iraqis killed, 30 wounded
* Saturday, April 4: one US marine, two Iraqis killed; eight
Iraqis wounded
* Friday, April 3: one US soldier, five Iraqis killed; 17 Iraqis
wounded
* Thursday, April 2: nine Iraqis killed, 22 wounded
* Wednesday, April 1: one US soldier, 15 Iraqis killed; 25 Iraqis
wounded
At the height of the sectarian violence that ravaged Iraq between
early 2006 and mid-2007, some days found 300 Iraqis being killed.
Right now, Iraq is teetering on the brink of returning to that level
of bloodletting.
** Dahr Jamail's MidEast Dispatches **
** Visit the Dahr Jamail website
http://dahrjamailiraq.com
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