Success?

Ummm. . . . Is this the "success" in Iraq we hear so much about from John McCain? The United States has been paying thousands of militia members $300 a month and promising them jobs with the Iraqi government. Of the 24,000 Sunni Sons of Iraq in Diyala province, 11,000 are on U. S. payrolls. (On Tuesday morning, gunfire erupted between police in Diyala province and Iraqi special forces.) The U. S. is paying a total of 103,000 militia members throughout Iraq. The agreement between the U. S. and these militias has greatly influenced the decline in violence that politicians always cite as evidence of success of the surge. Now the Iraqi government is backing out of its commitment toward these former insurgents. What happens when the promises fail?

Colin Kahl, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a centrist policy institute in Washington, who recently visited Iraq, said the dispute over the militias could set the stage for a return of widespread bloodshed, particularly because the Maliki government seemed intent on thwarting the plan.

Sources
Leila Fadel, "Key U. S. Iraq Strategy in Danger of Collapse," McClatchy Newspapers, posted Wednesday, August 20, 2008, at http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/49538.html

Nicholas Spangler, "U.S. Denounces Chaotic Iraqi Raid," McClatchy Newspapers, posted Wednesday, August 20, 2008, at http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/49518.html