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Description
Top Shi'ite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim on Jan. 3 acknowledged the contribution of the US-funded ACs to the decline in violence across Iraq and called for their use in the continuing fight against al-Qaeda. His praise for the role of these mainly Sunni Arab tribal groups, many of which had fought US and Shi'ite-dominated security forces before switching sides in 2007, runs contrary to the hardline position recently taken by PM Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government.
The government in December said it would disband the ACs in some regions and Concerned Local Citizens (CLCs) in others, after restive areas were calmed. It said it did not want them to be a separate military force and would not allow them to have any infrastructure, including offices.
The AC forces, more than 70,000 strong and expected to reach 100,0000 and to include Shi'ite Arab tribesmen, have been credited by US commanders as instrumental in the reduction in violence in the last six months. But Maliki's government has been deeply uneasy about... |
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