Sons and Guns and Money

The New York Times, March 31:

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi and American soldiers have completely disarmed a rebellious Awakening Council that staged a brief uprising after its leader was arrested in a Baghdad neighborhood, and they are not going to allow it to re-form, both Iraqi and United States officials confirmed Monday.
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Only a week ago, Mr. Mashhadani had complained publicly about late pay and a lack of jobs, warning that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia might well return to the community. After his arrest, many of his followers began shooting at American and Iraqi forces, and briefly took five Iraqi Army soldiers prisoner, releasing them unharmed.

The New York Times, March 30:

Five Iraqi Army soldiers, who were described on Saturday as having been kidnapped shortly after the shooting began, were able to leave the neighborhood on Sunday morning, Mr. Sammaraie said. His assertion was corroborated by an Iraqi Army officer.

"Those five soldiers were at a joint checkpoint with the Awakening and when the clashes started, they turned to us for help and told us, 'We are neutral, and we don't want to interfere and shoot at you, so we would like to stay here until morning,' " Mr. Sammaraie said.

A young Iraqi Army officer patrolling Fadhil on Sunday afternoon gave a similar account. "Nobody kidnapped our soldiers," said Lt. Ahmad Ali. "They put down their weapons. Nobody forced them to do that."

Some residents of the impoverished, war-battered neighborhood sounded a note of relief about Mr. Mashhadani's arrest. A few said he had bravely fought Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, an extremist Sunni group believed by American officials to have some foreign leadership, but others said he was a brutal strongman.

"Adil Mashhadani is involved in killing, stealing and displacing people according to their sect, and he buried people alive," said a man who would give his name only as Ibrahim because he feared reprisals from Awakening members. "Everyone there is afraid of him."

When Mr. Mashhadani was arrested, he was found with a stockpile of bullets, including 800 that would fit a BKC machine gun and more than 6,000 that would fit a Kalashnikov.

General Perkins, speaking with a small group of reporters at the United States Embassy in Baghdad, also confirmed that the United States military on Monday pressed Iraqi officials to find funds to pay the Sons of Iraq, the American name for members of the Awakening Councils. Many of them are a month or more in arrears.
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"I personally was in the finance minister's office about two hours ago and he showed me basically what you would call a deposit slip, depositing the money in the Rafidain Bank," General Perkins said. The amount was $30 million, he said, which is the monthly payroll for Iraq's 94,000 Awakening Council members.

He added that the timing had nothing to do with Mr. Mashhadani's arrest and widespread criticism of the action from other Awakening Councils.

"We do feel a large responsibility to reassure the S.O.I.'s that this is not about S.O.I.," the general said, using the abbreviation for Sons of Iraq. General Perkins called the news briefing to detail the charges against Mr. Mashhadani, which he said included extortion, kidnapping and terrorism, all committed since 2008. He said that he was satisfied that the Iraqi government acted on valid evidence.

Iraqi government assumes responsibility for all Sons of Iraq and resolves delays in salary payments

Multi-National Corps - Iraq PAO

BAGHDAD - The Sons of Iraq - local security volunteers credited with helping reduce violent attacks and terrorist influence across the country - marked two major milestones Wednesday: Coalition forces completed the final transfer of Sons of Iraq members to Iraqi control, and the Government of Iraq secured the funds to pay back wages to Sons of Iraq in four provinces.

"These are big wins, and they affirm the Government of Iraq's commitment to the Sons of Iraq," said Col. Jeffrey Kulmayer, chief of reconciliation, Multi-National Corps - Iraq.

The Sons of Iraq, who number about 92,000 in nine provinces across Iraq, were born in 2006 out of the grassroots movement known as Sahwah, or "The Awakening." Concerned local citizens rallied together in their neighborhoods to counter violent acts by terrorists and insurgents. In 2007, the volunteers partnered with Coalition forces to defeat common enemies like Al Qaeda in Iraq. Security conditions improved greatly, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki approved a plan for the national government to take control of the Sons of Iraq, pay them and transition them into meaningful long-term jobs.

"Everyone in the government understands the importance of the Sons of Iraq, and their sacrifices for the good of the nation," said Dr. Zuhair al-Chalibi, a representative of the Iraqi government's Implementation and Follow-Up Committee for National Reconciliation, which oversees the volunteers' transfer and transition to Iraqi control. He said the government would continue to support the "vital project and give it the attention it deserves."

On Wednesday, the government officially took responsibility for all of the nation's Sons of Iraq, when Coalition Forces passed command of Salah ah Din province's 10,000 or so members to the Iraqi Army - the final group to be transferred. That event, which is to be marked by an official ceremony Thursday, came on the heels of news that the Government of Iraq would soon pay other SOI members who had been late in receiving their regular wages.

The payment delay resulted from changes to the 2009 budget, which inadvertently left out funding for Sons of Iraq salaries, Kulmayer said. Once the Council of Ministers realized what had happened, they quickly passed a resolution to delegate the Ministry of Interior to pay the salaries of the SOI from the Ministry's budget until a resolution on the required allocation of funds for the SOI is reached in the Council of Representatives, Iraq's main parliamentary body, Kulmayer said.

This week, the Ministry of Interior transferred sufficient funds to the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration committee, which prepares the pay rosters and writes the checks to each ISF unit overseeing the SOI. That process is now complete, and Iraqi Army paymasters responsible for disbursing the funds to SOI members will be ready to give them out starting Thursday, Kulmayer said. Those catch-up payments are in addition to the regular SOI pay date, slated for the middle of the month.

The resolution of the payments was a priority for government and Coalition authorities, who have focused on the SOI program as "the leading edge of reconciliation in Iraq," Kulmayer said.

"Working with the Iraqi Government, we are taking a population that was separate, integrating them into the new Iraq and providing hope through a transition into meaningful employment," Kulmayer said. "With the transfer of SOI to Iraqi control completed, we are now focusing on the transition of SOI to jobs."

Chalibi said the government was working to ensure there were no future delays in the payment process for the Sons of Iraq. "This has to be successful," he said. "This is a national reconciliation."