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[b]What's in a name? U.S. rebrands Iraq ex-insurgents [/b]REUTERS - 25 AUGUST 2007
U.S. forces have rebranded one of the main insurgent groups in Iraq and now use the term "concerned local nationals" to refer to a group that once claimed responsibility for killing scores of Americans.
The updated vocabulary for referring to the 1920 Revolution Brigade, described by a U.S. commander on Saturday, is a sign of the abrupt change in tactics that has seen U.S. forces cooperate with former Sunni Arab enemies.
The 1920 Revolution Brigade was one of the main anti-American Sunni Arab insurgent groups in Iraq in the years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and has claimed responsibility for killing scores of U.S. troops in ambushes and bomb attacks.
But for the past several months its members have cooperated with U.S. forces to help drive the strict al Qaeda Islamists out of Sunni Arab areas, part of a new U.S. tactic of cooperating with former Sunni Arab foes against al Qaeda.
Colonel David Sutherland, the U.S. commander in Diyala Province, said his men prefer not to call the group by its name.
"The 1920s as they're called, we call them 'the Baquba Guardians', we call them the 'concerned local nationals'," he said. Baquba is the provincial capital.
"These are patriots who have come forward and have joined the security process. They are working with my soldiers and they are working with the Iraqi security forces," he said.
Al Qaeda's adherence to a hardline form of Sunni Islam and indiscriminate attacks has isolated it from Sunni Arabs and nationalist insurgent groups.
Sutherland said the 1920 Revolution Brigade name was now being used widely to refer to local pro-government militia and not anti-American insurgents. Some Shi'ite elders were asking if they too could recruit "1920s," he said, a sign the Sunni Arab group's name was no longer seen as sectarian.
"It has become a name, a catch-all phrase for these concerned local nationals throughout the province," he told a news conference by video link to Baghdad.
His forces "do not deal with terrorists, and if we have information on individuals then we will act accordingly," Sutherland said. "The individuals we are working with.... I have confidence in them and I have confidence in their leadership."
[b]Former Sunni rebels aiding US military in Iraq [/b]
AFP - 25 AUGUST 2007
US forces in Iraq are working with former Sunni enemies to root out Al-Qaeda cells fighting north of Baghdad, a commander said on Saturday as a car bomb in the capital killed seven people.
Thousands of Shiite pilgrims, meanwhile, started converging on the central shrine city of Karbala amid tight security for celebrations marking the birth anniversary of a revered imam.
Colonel David Sutherland said fighters from the Sunni Brigades of the 1920 Revolution acted as scouts and informants for US and Iraqi forces during a recent operation to secure an area around Baquba, capital of Diyala Province.
"We call them concerned local nationals. These are people, patriots that have come forward and joined the security process," Sutherland told reporters.
"They are working with my soldiers, they are working with Iraqi security forces to assist us with information with being the eyes and ears."
The 1920 Brigades, which took their name from the date of an Iraqi uprising against British rule, were founded to fight American forces in the aftermath of the March 2003 invasion, which overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein.
The group's fighters are mainly Sunni Arabs and include many former members of Saddam's army. The outfit has claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on US troops, but said it is not involved in attacks on Iraqi civilians.
In recent months there have been several reports from Baghdad and from the western province of Anbar that the 1920 Brigades are increasingly now working alongside their former foes in order to defeat Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate.
While the group has denied these claims in messages on extremist websites, the apparent switch in sides comes after several Sunni tribal leaders who had been sympathetic to the "resistance" turned against Al-Qaeda's tactics.
Sutherland said that in Diyala the local Sunni levies signing up to fight Al-Qaeda were increasingly known under the catch-all term of "1920s" and they had proved popular with local residents seeking protection.
"They may have people who did not want to participate in the political process before, they may not have wanted to participate in the security process before but now they are," said Sutherland.
Sutherland's Iraqi counterpart, Major General Abdul Kareem, commander of Iraqi security forces in Diyala, also endorsed the "1920s" and said it was now a decision for the Iraqi government as to "whether they can join the army."
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government has expressed concern over the new US policy of working with Sunni insurgent factions, fearing they will turn into an armed opposition.
US commanders, however, believe that their allies will prove invaluable in defeating irreconcilable militant groups such as Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Meanwhile, insurgents set off a car bomb in Baghdad's Shiite neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah which killed seven people and wounded 30, medical and security officials said.
The northwestern neighbourhood houses a Shiite shrine to Imam Kadhim, which draws thousands of pilgrims annually, and is known as a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia, loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Police, meanwhile, said they were expecting some two million Shiite pilgrims to descend on Karbala to celebrate Tuesday the birth anniversary of Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi, the 12th imam of Shiite Islam.
With thousands already arriving in the city, 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of Baghdad, police announced a vehicle curfew from Sunday to thwart potential car bomb attacks.
The imam disappeared from the northern Iraqi town of Samarra centuries ago, and Shiites believe he will return one day to save the world.
Extra checkpoints are usually set up on the western side of the province which borders the Sunni Anbar province, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda-led insurgents.
In April, two car bombs killed 110 people in Karbala.
The US military said Saturday its troops found a building south of Baghdad which is believed to have been used as an execution chamber by Al-Qaeda militants.
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