Wednesday, December 26, 2007

IRAQ: 'Awakening' Forces Arouse New Conflicts

By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail

"FALLUJAH, Dec 26 (IPS) - The controversial move of the U.S. military to back Sunni "Awakening" forces has created another wedge between Sunni and Shia political groups.

Following disputes between the tribal groups assembled into Awakening forces and the Iraqi government, the creation of these forces has become also a political issue.

U.S.-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who heads a Shia political bloc, has adamantly opposed the U.S.-military policy of backing tribal groups and former resistance fighters.......

Tensions between politicians in the government and local tribes affiliated with the Awakening are evident all over Fallujah. Many people say they fear a new phase of fighting, this time local.

"This was the American plan from the beginning," Sammy Hussein, a poet from Fallujah told IPS. "We knew that after creating a Sunni-Shia fight, they would start a Sunni-Sunni fight and a Shia-Shia fight so that they ensure control of our country. The only thing they have not calculated well is that people are still armed, and that the fighting spirit is still alive in Iraq."....."

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