Pat Dollard | Young Americans

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government has agreed to take over support of a U.S.-funded plan that has organized thousands of Iraqis — including former insurgents and their sympathizers — into local security groups.

The move is a long-awaited step toward national reconciliation, said Saad al-Muttalibi, an official at Iraq’s Ministry of National Dialogue and Reconciliation.

“It’s now reassuring that the government of Iraq recognizes that this is a program that has worked in Anbar and is beginning to work elsewhere in the country,” said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman.

Iraq intends to move the guards into training programs as quickly as possible, Muttalibi said. “It’s not a good idea to have people with guns running around the streets,” he said.

The movement toward local security began in predominantly Sunni Anbar province, where tribal leaders and their followers agreed to work with U.S. and Iraqi forces in fighting al-Qaeda. The program expanded rapidly elsewhere, including Baghdad.

At first, Iraq’s government eyed the groups warily and considered them a potential threat.

The new concept poses risks. Iraq’s Interior and Defense ministries have often had difficulty paying soldiers and police consistently and providing logistical support for their forces. Government officials remain suspicious of the groups, and an effort to disband them quickly could anger Sunni leaders.

Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Iraq’s government needs to integrate the groups into the nation’s security forces carefully because al-Qaeda may have infiltrated their ranks.

The U.S. government has been urging Iraq’s central government to take steps toward reconciliation. The Iraqi government has yet to pass major legislation, such as an oil-revenue-distribution law, designed to ease tensions between Sunnis and Shiites.

Iraq’s government will probably be ready to assume control of the local security groups in the middle of next year, Smith said. Until the Iraqis can take over, the U.S. military will keep paying for the groups. Iraq’s Finance Ministry has identified $150 million for the program in next year’s budget, which must be approved by the National Assembly.

Nearly 60,000 Iraqis, all but 14,000 of whom are Sunnis, have joined the groups, some of which are organized around tribal or neighborhood leaders, according to the U.S. military. They’re paid about $300 a month. About 12,000 others are serving without pay.

The Iraqi government eventually wants to disband the local security groups and take 12,000 to 20,000 people into the Iraqi security forces. The remainder would receive job training paid for by the U.S. and Iraqi governments.

Both governments have always viewed the groups as “a stopgap measure where there were insufficient police and security forces,” said Army Maj. Gen. Michael Jones, commander of the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team. “They were never intended to be permanent.”

(USAToday)