6,000 Sunnis join security pact with U.S.

Sunni tribal leaders sign a security pact in Hawija, 150 miles north of Baghdad, on Nov. 28. Nearly 6,000 Sunni Arab residents signed a security pact with American forces in the dusty farming community described as the last gateway for militants flowing northward in Iraq.


6,000 Sunnis join security pact with U.S.
By Lauren Frayer - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 28, 2007 21:36:16 EST

HAWIJA, Iraq — Nearly 6,000 Sunni Arab residents joined a security pact with American forces Wednesday, in what U.S. officers called the largest single volunteer effort by Iraqi citizens since the war began.

About a dozen tribal sheiks, bearded and draped in black robes trimmed with gold braiding, signed the contract on behalf of local tribesmen at a small U.S. outpost in this dusty farming community American officers describe as the “last gateway” for militants flowing northward in Iraq.

It’s part of an American effort to trap insurgents who first fled military offensives in western Anbar province, then left Baghdad and the capital’s surrounding belts.

For about $275 a month — nearly the salary for the typical Iraqi policeman — the tribesmen will man about 200 security checkpoints throughout the area beginning Dec. 7, supplementing hundreds of Iraqi forces already here.

The movement of so-called “concerned local citizens,” along with the 30,000-strong U.S. troop buildup, has driven Sunni militants north, U.S. officials say, away from religiously mixed areas of Baghdad and into former Baathist communities where they sought sympathy and refuge.

About 77,000 Iraqis nationwide, mostly Sunnis, have broken with the insurgents and joined U.S.-backed self-defense groups. Those groups have played a major role in the lull in violence: 648 Iraqi civilians have been killed or found dead in November to date, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press, compared with 2,155 in May.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_sunnipact_071128/