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How fear turns to resolve in one Iraqi village
US-Iraqi forces persuade a remote town in Diyala Province to fight against Al Qaeda insurgents.
from the January 23, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 3
The CLC concept, also called Sahwa or "Awakening" elsewhere in Iraq, spread last year throughout Sunni areas with heavy insurgent activity and is one reason violence has dropped nationwide. Elsewhere in Diyala Province, which has long been an Al Qaeda in Iraq stronghold, US forces have been surprised by the scale of turnout for CLCs. The $350-a-month salary – $450 for shift leaders – is a draw. Fatigue with insurgent brutality plays a role, too.
But the numbered green sashes CLC participants wear also make them targets. Here in prevaricating Dulim, the sashes were seen as a potential death warrant if too few signed up. After the first CLC registration attempt failed, the US captain privately took Sheikh Thamir to task.
"If I leave now, all we've achieved is a grand homecoming for you," Heumphreus told the sheikh. "If you don't stand up and keep the roads open, what will keep Al Qaeda from killing everybody?"
"The job you did was great, and I thank you for it!" pleaded the sheikh, his eyes watering up. "Some people still have fear in their chests. Please understand."
Even the soldiers tasked with creating the CLCs recognize that mustering yet another armed group in Iraq is controversial.
"Granted, it's working short term, but it's a short-term fix to a long-term problem," says a US intelligence officer who asked not to be named. "Once we pull out of here, it's just aiding ethnic violence. It looks good on paper ... violence is down 10-fold. But ...they are still attacking us."
"Sure it looks like a militia and smells like a militia, but we really are trying to tie them to the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police," says Capt. Timothy Gillett, executive officer of Arrow Troop. Armed CLCs are not meant to stray from their checkpoints. "It's a contract. It's security, but untrained. You have a kindergarten-level Blackwater," he says referring to the largest US private security contractor.
Vacillating by the people of Dulim meant that Heumphreus made a decision to extend the three-day operation for himself and one of three platoons, recognizing that the CLC effort would fail otherwise. An Iraqi unit also decided to stay on, boosting confidence among villagers that they would not again find themselves isolated.
Reminders of the dangers are close. A suicide bomber Tuesday struck a school in the provincial capital of Baqubah, killing one and wounding 21. In the neighboring province of Salahuddin on Monday, a suicide bomber targeted a funeral, killing 18.
Dulim has been cut off for more than two years by roadside bombs and therefore beyond easy reach of US and Iraqi troops. The village has had to fend for itself, and follow Al Qaeda rules. One young man says he was told at gunpoint to stop trimming his beard, and to hike his dishdasha robe higher around his ankles, in the custom of Sunni fundamentalists.
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