Arabnews – BAQUBA, Iraq: Sunni Arab fighters battling Al-Qaeda in Iraq say their future is bleak as the government prepares to take over responsibility for them from the Americans and they also face Al-Qaeda fury.
Nearly every week Abdullah Al-Samarraie meets government officials as he seeks a job. The 30-year-old anti-Qaeda fighter wants to use his skills as a policeman or soldier in Iraqs security forces.
Samarraie has been fighting against Al-Qaeda extremists in Baquba, one of the most dangerous cities in the country, but has yet to find employment.
Ive made dozens of applications for a job in the security forces but with no luck, said Samarraie, one of around 100,000 mostly Sunni Arabs who have to date been backed by the US military in the fight against Al-Qaeda.
In September 2006, the American military began supporting the formation of neighborhood groups of Sunni Arabs to band together and fight Sunni extremists, paying them an average monthly salary of around $300.
Most were themselves former insurgents who had fought against the US-led coalition forces in the aftermath of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq but later turned against their Al-Qaeda allies, disgusted with the groups extremism.
From next month, however, the responsibility for paying these Sunni groups known as Sahwa (Awakening) councils or, by the US military, Sons of Iraq is set to be taken over by Baghdads Shiite-led government.
Many Sahwa members have been hoping to be rewarded with jobs in the security forces or other state establishments in return for battling Al-Qaeda. They are credited with helping to reduce violence levels across Iraq to a four-year low.
But now they fear their Sahwa councils will be disbanded instead, leaving them both disarmed and jobless at a time when Al-Qaeda is likely to be seeking them out for revenge.
Im being chased by Al-Qaeda, and if the situation does not change I will have to leave Diyala, said Samarraie.
His group leader, Ala Hamud Sultan Al-Nidawi, said Iraqi forces have already begun closing Sahwa offices in Baquba and its surrounding province of Diyala where a massive military operation targeting Al-Qaeda began in July.
The Iraqi forces surprised us with the decision to disarm us and close our offices, Nidawi said. We expected the Iraqi forces to chase the terrorists and outlaws. If Al-Qaeda and other terrorists return then we are not responsible for that.
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