Sahwa Councils, The Awakening, and Concerned Local Citizens in Iraq

McClatchy Watch has noted that there's not enough talk in American media about the Sunni population (and some Shiites) arising from their persecution to take on the Al-Qaeda caliphate. Long War Journal has published a comprehensive break-down of where they are located and how they operate, but there hasn't been any detailed analysis of this group in MSM (I guess they were too busy debating the ethical dilemma of waterboarding a bunch of terrorists). Well, there has actually been quite a lot of talk about them in Middle Eastern media as well as amongst the military. It has been proven that they are effective, and their courage has been noted. I know you might not believe the American guy who's been here for a short 6 months, so let's take a look at this Gulf News editorial:

War fatigue, as I was told by an American friend, has hit the publishing world in the West, so can we imagine what is happening to the Iraqi individual? People in Iraq want peace, stability, jobs, paved streets, no concrete walls, no human corpses floating on the River Tigris, electricity, clean water and to never ever have another Saddam Hussein in the presidential palace. Around 77,000 Sunnis, many from some tribes who considered volunteering for the Iraqi National Guard Forces and the Police Force as high treason, have enrolled to volunteer in these very forces. Now they protect major positions in their areas, not against Americans, but against Al Qaida and other terrorists... In all reality, I am not trying to paint a rosy picture, but I do know that Al Qaida and other terrorists are not treated as friends anymore in Iraq, where tribal heads, chiefs and the ordinary man on the street are unanimous when they say they had enough of them and enough is enough.

When these armed groups began their rise to power, the Shiite-dominated government was a little concerned that they would turn into thuggish militias (much like Sadr's people). However, there has been a huge change of heart in the central government when they announced yesterday that they would appropriate $150B Dinar to fund these neighborhood watch groups. Ironically, I don't have a link for you in Western media, even though Phil Reeker (US Embassy Spokesman) announced it at a press conference yesterday. Could this be one of the key components of success to a stable Iraq? Should assassinated Sheikh Abu Risha be posthumously considered for the Nobel Peace Prize for standing up to Al-Qaeda in Anbar province, which facilitated the spread of the movement to other areas of Iraq? LT Nixon thinks so! It's a lot damn better than giving it to that unintelligent, unscientific boob Al Gore. Give it a think.

R.I.P.: Sheikh Sattar Abu Risha
(killed by Al-Qaeda in September 2007)