US-Backed Iraqi Security Gains Forged on Mass Deaths and Heightened Sectarian Divide

[bigtree]

. . . who are we defending and arming the Maliki regime against?

Democracy Now
February 09, 2009

After campaigning on increasing security, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s allies appear to have won a large victory in Iraqi provincial elections. The US military strategy of allying with some Sunni militias has been widely touted as one reason for improved security in certain parts of Iraq. But at what cost?

AMY GOODMAN: In Iraq, preliminary results give Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s allies a clear victory in provincial elections held last month. Maliki’s State of Law coalition campaigned on a platform of increasing security in the war-torn country.

The US military strategy of allying with some Sunni militias, who came to be known as Awakening councils, or Al-Sahwa, in order to fight al-Qaeda has been widely touted as one reason for improved security in certain parts of Iraq.

Jacquie Soohen of Big Noise Films and Shane Bauer with the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Nation Institute and New American Media filed this report from Baghdad about the kind of security these Awakening councils are bringing to Iraq’s capital.


listen/watch: http://i1.democracynow.org/2009/2/9/us_backed_iraqi_security_gains_forged

[Chulanowa]

1. If there's one stable standard in the middle east...

It's that the United States doesn't give a flying fuck who dies so long as a nodding head is signing checks in hte government.