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| Hidden: Iraqi police in Diyala Province hide their identities from Al Qaeda-linked militants. Sam Dagher |
Risky US alliances in Iraq
Frustrated with the Iraqi Army, US forces cultivate ties to ex-insurgents.
from the July 17, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
After a raid, holding the ground
Early last week, the US bombed suspected AQI hideouts and several bridges over the Diyala River that were said to be used by the militants in the farmlands of Sherween, about 35 miles northeast of Baquba. On the ground, about 200 Iraqi and US soldiers along with members of the LRF clashed with militants in Rabie Najem, a Sherween-area village.
The US military said it killed 20 "Al Qaeda terrorists" and detained 20 in the operation, which it qualified as a success.
"It's very important that we go back and take control of our area. After [the US military] helped us, we need to hold the terrain. I have 40 of my guys waiting for me," says Najem Abdullah, one of the LRF members, in an interview at the US base Normandy the day after the bombing raid.
Mr. Abdullah and three of his comrades, all Sunnis from the Jubour tribe, were brought back to the base after the operation to talk to a US special forces team, which is charged with vetting them and supplying them with ammunition, according to officers in the 6th Squadron of the US Army's 9th Cavalry Regiment stationed at Normandy.
Mr. Abdullah is a former policeman and said he once collaborated with insurgent groups like the 1920 Revolution Brigades, one of the earliest Sunni Arab insurgent groups that fought US presence after the invasion. His friend Mazen Hamid is also a former Iraqi police officer and said that several of his relatives have joined the ranks of the Al Qaeda-linked militants and that they were being paid about $300 per operation.
"This is a lot of money for people in our villages who are groveling from poverty," says Raad Abed, another member of the group.
They described how the Al Qaeda-linked fighters, many of them masked and clad in black and wearing headbands bearing the words "Islamic State in Iraq," raided several villages in Sherween 10 days ago, blowing up homes and killing anyone associated with the government.
The militants extorted about $3,000 from one wealthy local sheikh and took over mosques broadcasting over loud speakers: "Long live the Islamic State in Iraq," according to Mr. Hamid.
Most of them were indigenous fighters with a few Arab nationals among them, says Hamid. This matched the assessment of several US Army officers in the area.
Hamid said that out of an original population of about 400 only 40 men from Rabie Najem are left. His own wife fled farther north, and he might join her soon if the campaign to reclaim their village fails.
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