Nonno
11-12-2008, 08:56 AM
Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Iraq begins paying Awakening groups (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/11/20081110172020177594.html)
Fighters with Sunni Awakening groups in Iraq, who were paid by the US to turn against al-Qaeda, have begun to receive their first pay cheques from the Shia-dominated Iraqi government.
The Iraqi government started paying the salaries of about 54,000 Awakening fighters at 60 locations in Baghdad on Monday.
About $15m is to be distributed in a process expected to take several days.
"This is really a tremendously important day and a manifestation of the reconciliation process that is happening in Iraq," Robin Swan, a US army brigadier general, said.
"The real proof of the pudding is in the payday."
The new salaries will represent a slight pay cut from $300 a month under the US, down to $275 a month on the Iraqi security forces payroll.
he move to bring the Awakening groups into the security forces could test Baghdad's fragile calm.
"We brought security to the area and now they call us a militia," said Barakat al-Obeidi, an Awakening member in Adhamiyah, a centuries-old Sunni district that saw fierce fighting at the height of sectarian fighting in 2006.
"But even if they cut off our salaries we will continue to defend our city. We will do it for free. Our families live here so we have to protect them."
Fighters with Sunni Awakening groups in Iraq, who were paid by the US to turn against al-Qaeda, have begun to receive their first pay cheques from the Shia-dominated Iraqi government.
The Iraqi government started paying the salaries of about 54,000 Awakening fighters at 60 locations in Baghdad on Monday.
About $15m is to be distributed in a process expected to take several days.
"This is really a tremendously important day and a manifestation of the reconciliation process that is happening in Iraq," Robin Swan, a US army brigadier general, said.
"The real proof of the pudding is in the payday."
The new salaries will represent a slight pay cut from $300 a month under the US, down to $275 a month on the Iraqi security forces payroll.
he move to bring the Awakening groups into the security forces could test Baghdad's fragile calm.
"We brought security to the area and now they call us a militia," said Barakat al-Obeidi, an Awakening member in Adhamiyah, a centuries-old Sunni district that saw fierce fighting at the height of sectarian fighting in 2006.
"But even if they cut off our salaries we will continue to defend our city. We will do it for free. Our families live here so we have to protect them."