Collectively, Americans have short memories. Worse, far worse, so does
the mainstream news (MSN). A few of us remember the al-Sahwa or the Sons of
Iraq, otherwise known as the Awakening Movement. President Bush dubbed them
"Concerned Local Citizens."
Remember them? One should. In 2006 and 2007, Iraq was on the edge of a
precipice staring into the abyss of civil war between the Sunni insurgents and
the Shiite militia and Death Squads. Iraqi civilization was on the verge of
being torn apart ... forever. So, what happened? Incredibly, American commanders
hired the Sunni insurgents. We put them on the American payroll and armed
them with two conditions. First and foremost, they had to stop killing American
soldiers and Iraqi security forces. Second, they had to hunt down and kill or
capture al-Qa'ida of Iraq (AQI) members. Miracle of miracles, the strategy
worked, about the only thing we have done in Iraq that actually worked, and the
popular name, Awakening Movement, took hold in America. Anbar Province, the
hotbed of the Sunni insurgency and AQI with cities like Fallujah and Ramadi, the
cities of death, within months became a quiet province and acquiesced to the
Shiite government in Baghdad. Many experts feel that the Awakening Movement had
more of an effect on subduing violence in Iraq than Bush's Surge. More than
likely, both played a role, but there is no argument that the Awakening played a
huge part.
In May, I wrote an article entitled, "Travesty in Iraq," click here
describing what happened. "Where has the Sunni insurgency been over the past 2
1/2 years? The answer is, they have been on our side. They are called the
al-Sahwa, or the Sons of Iraq." I added, "The Sahwa force is Sunni militia hired
by the U.S. in August, 2006, and is comprised of former resistance fighters. The
Sahwa grew in number to 100,000, and they were commissioned by General David H.
Petraeus to hunt down members of AQI."
In a particular sense, it is easy to understand why the Sunni insurgents
were won over by their enemies, the American military machine. That machine is
relentless with far superior weaponry and unchallenged air superiority. The
agreement delivered money and arms to the Sunni militants, items they
desperately needed. However, in a more practical sense from the standpoint of
the motivation to fight ... and die, the secular Sunni militant was entirely
disenchanted by the almost Draconian fundamentalist al-Qa'ida.
That was then. This is now. Unfortunately, my article in May was
prompted by two unwelcome developments. In the background is the fact that,
according to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed between the U.S. and
Iraq on the eve of Bush's Presidency, American military forces must withdraw
from all Iraqi cities by July 1st. The two discouraging events causing my
article in May are, not in order of importance, a significant up-tick in
violence in April and the demise of the Awakening Movement.
I wrote, "More than 355 people died in 40 bomb attacks in April, making
it the bloodiest month in Iraq for over a year. For the most part, the media is
reporting these attacks, attributing them to Sunni insurgents and/or al-Qa'ida
of Iraq (AQI), but the media is not connecting the dots." They still are not.
Also, the increase in violence has continued to this day. A recent A.P. article
reported, "Nearly all the bombings that began on June 20 have been in Shiite
areas, including the two deadliest attacks. They were a June 20 bombing that
killed 82 people outside a mosque in northern Iraq, and another on June 24 in
the Shiite enclave of Sadr City that killed 78." During the past week, 250
people have died in Iraq from attacks.
Who is to blame? Blaming AQI is easy. Al-Maliki blamed the bombings on
the remnants of al-Qa'ida in Iraq and said they were aimed at restarting
violence between Shiites and Sunnis. See what I mean. The American MSN follows
suit. Blaming al-Qa'ida is quite popular these days, has been for quite a
while.
Let's dig a little deeper to try to find the true cause for the increase
in violence. The al-Sahwa force did the job they were hired to do. They stopped
attacking American and Iraqi forces and turned their guns on AQI. Moreover,
al-Sahwa members were in a position to inform American forces on the whereabouts
of key AQI leaders. AQI forces were sent fleeing from nearly every province in
Iraq and by the fall of 2008 they were on life support. Violence in Iraq dropped
precipitously to manageable levels.
As a consequence, the U.S. fired the al-Sahwa.
Oh, sure, the al-Sahwa were supposed to be integrated into the Iraqi
security forces, but al-Maliki was very reluctant to do that. As a consequence
to that, it never happened. I reported in May, "The al-Sahwa are now
concerned that the Shiite-led government has begun singling out the councils'
leaders for arrest while their chief patron, the American military, abandons
them. Many have not been paid since October. A Sahwa commander in Baghdad feared
it was only a matter of time before they would leave their posts to likely
resume resistance operations. That has now started, and the news media is
clueless. Eighteen American soldiers were killed in Iraq during April, the
highest total in seven months." Al-Maliki has declared June 30th as Victory Day.
I have no words to describe this proclamation, none whatsoever. U.S. and Iraqi
officials have warned of a possible spike in violence over the next week. You
think.
American leaders turned their backside to the al-Sahwa who did exactly
what they were supposed to do. That is not a wise course of action against the
Arab fighter.
Returning to al-Qa'ida, no, not AQI, the real al-Qa'ida. Al-Qa'ida is
known to have the capability to evolve, to correct the errors of their ways to
achieve a goal. Al-Qa'ida can easily go back to Sunni tribal leaders, assuring
adaptation to Iraqi Sunni ways, offering money and guns, while appealing to
Sunni nationalistic tendencies. It is becoming readily apparent that as the
Iraqi government attacks on the Sahwa continue, AQI is now operating largely at
will, and attacks on US forces and Iraqi targets, particularly Shi'a
targets, are now happening all over Iraq ... again. Ironically, the very last
thing al-Qa'ida wants is for the U.S. to withdraw from Iraqi cities. The
American invasion of Iraq has been recruiting poster material for al-Qa'ida for
over six years. It would not bother Osama bin Laden one bit if American soldiers
in the heart of Arab land remain targets. He does not want American forces to
retreat. He wants to defeat the American will to fight. When Bush invaded Iraq,
he played right into the hands of bin Laden.
Thomas Friedman writes, "... al-Qa'ida is primarily
focused on defeating America in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world -
particularly in Iraq. Al-Qa'ida knows that if it can destroy the U.S. effort
(still a long shot) to build a decent, modernizing society in Iraq, it will
undermine every U.S. ally in the region."
The Alzheimer's-like memory of the MSN continues. The aforementioned A.P. article stated, "It was brought back from the brink [of civil war] by a huge inflow of U.S. troops in 2007 in what became known as the 'surge.'" No! Civil war was averted by both the "surge" and the Awakening Movement. I am not picking on the A.P. The successful Awakening Movement and its betrayal by the government that speaks for us has not been mentioned in the MSN.
Ignoring for the moment the rather obvious fact that the American
invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, was the most ignominious military error on the
part of American leadership since the War of 1812, the war in Iraq, now in its
seventh year, begs a question. How many egregious military errors can America
make in one war? That question is exacerbated by the growing Af/Pak theater of
war where "victory" is more elusive than in the fall and winter of 2001. This
causes still another question.
With a wretched economy that is supposed to support our military adventures on borrowed money from Red China, does Washington have a death wish?
