The neighborhood militias that helped the U.S.-led coalition turn the tide in Iraq are in the process of being transferred to Iraqi government control and retired. It's a vital part of the broader transition of all war functions to Baghdad, which officially kicked off on January 1st.
The 94,000 "Sons of Iraq" (SOI) are being handed over to Baghdad province by province. Al Anbar, where the SOI was born more than two years ago as an offshoot of the "Anbar Awakening," is slated for February.
For now, for more most of the SOI, the handover means very little, according to U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kulmayer, the top coalition "reconciliation" officer. Many Sons of Iraq are still at their posts with their AK-47s, guarding "critical infrastructure" and "thickening the battlefield," Kulmayer said this morning during a Pentagon-arranged teleconference. Gradually, these SOI are being "peel[ed] off their security positions" and redirected into other lines of work. So far, 3,000 former SOI have joined the Iraqi national police. Around 1,600 have entered vocational training.
The latter is key. There isn't room for all the SOI in the Iraqi police -- nor are all of them suited to police jobs, since many SOI are former insurgents. The vocational training is supposed to be the consolation prize for those Sons of Iraq who won't be allowed to continue their security careers. But Kulmayer said that "non-security employment" is "a little tougher," in light of Iraq's continuing economic woes and high unemployment.
But for now, all the SOI militiamen are still on someone's payroll, earning $300 a month in Baghdad or just $130 in the outlying provinces.
("Boston police make more than Mississippi police," Kulmayer explained.) And there haven't been any major pay problems with the SOI
under Baghdad's control, as is often the case with other Iraqi security forces. Kulmayer said the SOI's pay is overseen by a special commission that answers directly to the Iraqi prime minister. 383 of 385 recent pay contracts went off without a hitch.
Aside from the vocational training, the biggest sticking point has been the handover of SOI in Diyala, still one of the most dangerous provinces of Iraq. Kulmayer said the coalition wanted to sign over Diyala's Sons of Iraq last, in April, but
Baghdad insisted on taking them over in January.
Already transferred are the roughly 800 "Daughters of
Iraq," female militia who assist with searching Iraqi women. The
Daughters of Iraq have become increasingly important as the threat from female suicide bombers grows, Kulmayer said.
[PHOTO: me]
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