Feeding the Hand that Bites You

You're not the least bit sick of stories about Iraq, are you dear readers? Of course not.

I'm sure most of you remember the Iraqi "Awakening" movement. It was a rare shrewd move by the US to co-opt Sunni fighters by offering them better money than Al Qaeda in Iraq could pay, in addition to promises of future employment in the Iraqi government. Sunni fighters switched sides in huge numbers, which decimated Al Qaeda in Iraq and greatly helped in reducing violence in Mesopotamia. (The so-called "Surge" has been widely credited with the reduction in violence, but it is the Captain's belief that it was the "Awakening" and the largely completed ethnic-cleansing that happened around the same time as "The Surge" that are most responsible for the downturn in killing.)

Well, it's now 4 years on and very few government jobs have materialized for the Sunni fighters. Additionally, the political settlements that were supposed to follow in the wake of reduced violence also never materialized, so deep feelings of sectarian mistrust remain. The results are depressingly predictable:

BAQUBA, Iraq — Members of United States-allied Awakening Councils have quit or been dismissed from their positions in significant numbers in recent months, prey to an intensive recruitment campaign by the Sunni insurgency, according to government officials, current and former members of the Awakening and insurgents.

Although there are no firm figures, security and political officials say hundreds of the well-disciplined fighters — many of whom have gained extensive knowledge about the American military — appear to have rejoined Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Beyond that, officials say that even many of the Awakening fighters still on the Iraqi government payroll, possibly thousands of them, covertly aid the insurgency.

[...]

“The Awakening doesn’t know what the future holds because it is not clear what the government intends for them,” said Nathum al-Jubouri, a former Awakening Council leader in Salahuddin Province who recently quit the organization.

“At this point, Awakening members have two options: Stay with the government, which would be a threat to their lives, or help Al Qaeda by being a double agent,” he said.

“The Awakening is like a database for Al Qaeda that can be used to target places that had been out of reach before.”

I trust Daily Downers readers are aware that prior to the US invasion, there were precisely zero members of Al Qaeda in Iraq; the existence of terrorists in that country is entirely a result of the US invasion. If that weren't bad enough, not only has the US created a new outpost for Al Qaeda, now we know that US taxpayers are putting money directly into the pockets of possibly thousands of Al Qaeda double agents with "extensive knowledge about the American military."

[NYT]