Sunnis joining Iraqi security forces in droves

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Sunnis applying for Iraqi security forces jobs are searched by a 2nd Cavalry (Stryker) Regiment soldier after they arrived at Joint Security Station Cougar.


Sunnis joining Iraqi security forces in droves
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, November 16, 2007


BAGHDAD — Sunnis in Baghdad are signing up in large numbers to join Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces — a sign, according to the U.S. Army, that Sunnis here are keen to follow the path to peace taken by their kinsmen in Anbar province.

On Thursday, dozens of young Sunni men showed up for an Iraqi security forces recruiting drive at Joint Security Station Cougar, a base in Baghdad’s Sadiahy neighborhood that is home to Company F, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry (Stryker) Regiment and several hundred, mostly Shiite, Iraqi police officers.

“This is an historic occasion,” said the 2nd Squadron commander, Lt. Col. Myron Reineke, as he shook hands, first with Fasul Abued Hasson al Joburi, a Sunni sheik who led about 100 members of his clan onto the base to apply for security forces jobs, then with Lt. Col. Fakhir Idair Al Bahadpy, who heads a 400-man battalion of Iraqi police.

Iraqis call the phenomenon of Sunnis joining local security forces “following the light in the west,” one of the U.S. soldiers at JSS Cougar said. In Anbar province, most Sunnis have switched allegiance this year, from backing al-Qaida to supporting the coalition, a move that has led to a drastic reduction in violence west of Baghdad.

Once on base, the Sunni recruits underwent a physical training test that involved running about 80 yards and doing five push-ups and five sit-ups. Then they were checked by an Iraqi doctor and added to a biometric database.

“I bring my people here to join up to protect our area. It is something new in our life. We want all the Iraqis to mix in here without any problem. Just together in one Iraq. When the Sunni and Shia mix, it will be better. Not just one side,” al-Joburi said, through a translator.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50298