February 11, 2009
Sons of Iraq are growing influence Home-grown militia have ‘flipped the war’ By Philip Forgit
Sheikh Sudani is arguably the most
SAAB AL BOR, Iraq
powerful man in the city of Saab al Bor. Entering his home on a busy market street named after himself, one walks through a carport where a Mercedes Benz sits parked on a driveway of mosaic tiling. Sudani holds court in his living room, luxurious by Saab al Bor standards, underneath a 4-by-8 framed poster of himself in full sheikh regalia. Two male servants I R A Q I V O I C ES are summoned to bring Former Rawls chai and a dinner of Byrd Elementary baked vinegar chicken, School teacher rice and pickles as we Philip Forgit is begin to talk about the embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Sons of Iraq and his position as one of their filming how the leaders. war has affected Not just pacified but the Iraqi people. Second in a thriving, the city of series. Saab al Bor has Photos by Philip Forgit become the teachable Lines of men that stretch hundreds deep form on payday Saab al Bor. The Sons of Iraq have helped stabilize the region. moment for coalition commanders studying counterinsurgency and looking for the way forward in Iraq. Iraqis and Americans alike give much credit for the turnaround to the Sons of Iraq program.
“Chuckie,” an Iraqi national working as a contractor with coalition forces, has been in Saab al Bor for five years and has seen the change for himself. “SOI was the only thing that flipped the war,” he said. “If you are in your own area and you are paid to protect it, nothing happens. Without SOI, it’s impossible for 100 persons to improve the situation.” Though his unit at one time destroyed networks of al Qaeda and Jaiysh al Mahdi cells in the city, Capt. Digati, the U.S. Army commander here, acknowledged the impact of the indigenous force at maintaining those security gains. “The change since Sons of Iraq is night and day,” he said flatly. Essentially a jobs program and a form of Neighborhood Watch, the initiative has allowed unemployed Iraqi men to work securing their streets when they might otherwise have joined the insurgency for income. Established by coalition forces, it is now run by the Iraqi army with the help of SOI leaders. These bosses control patronage for their areas, tribes and families, overseeing payment of their crews and the scheduling of checkpoints and security watches. Once a month, all 3,100 Sons of Iraq in the area and their leaders arrive at Saab al Bor’s Iraqi army base to receive their paychecks. One leader at a recent payday had 83
Anwar Felah Hassan Uday al Haladawi, a former member of the Sons of Iraq, is now an Iraqi policeman. He holds his daughter Noor and son Felah.
Local sheikhs, who enjoy power mostly because of their wealth, oversee payment of the Sons of Iraq forces and schedule checkpoints and security watches in Saab al Bor.
Sons of Iraq in the line, including one of his own sons, Anwar. Standing with a group of teenagers, Anwar looked no more than 13 though he claimed to be 16. Anwar’s clothes were oversized, his pants cinched at the waist and belt pulled to the last notch. He said he worked a checkpoint with eight others and had been a Son of Iraq for more than a year. SOI leader Sudani is called a “Sheikh” by default, as are the 50-plus members of the Saab al Bor Sheikhs’ Council. Sudani founded the council, but none is a true sheikh as determined by tribal custom.
For most, it is the SOI program that has elevated their status. Their selfappointment to sheikh is by virtue of their power and wealth, controlling dozens to hundreds of men and their payments, as well as security in every sector of the city.
The rise of the SOI leaders has the traditional tribal sheikhs and the central government worried that the program has created rival centers of power and possibly militias. To address this, the central government has begun a program to incorporate many of the younger men into the army or police, hoping to reduce the risk of militias and minimize the power of the SOI leaders.
The transformation of Sons, like Anwar, into policemen and soldiers and what it means for SOI leaders is not lost on Sheikh Sudani. “After the mission of the SOI is completed and the security situation is situated, I am going to go back to construction and establish a real estate office in Saab al Bor,” he said. “I am intended, God willing, to raise up this business.”
Sudani is close to government leaders, who control reconstruction projects, development, and essential services, to the U.S. Army, which controls micro-grants and additional reconstruction projects, to the only true sheikh in the region, Sheik Nadim of Taji, whose National Brotherhood Movement party Sudani supported in the provincial election, and to the Sons of Iraq leaders. As our meeting concludes with chai and caramels, Sudani is conscious of a shift in American power as a National Guard unit begins to relieve the U.S. Army here. He turns to Capt. Digati, whose tour is coming to end. With a smile he asks, “When will the captain be bringing by his replacement?” Next –– Election Day.