With the United States soon to pull out of Iraq, one worry is whether the Sunnis who began working with us during the Sunni Awakening will be willing to work for a government controlled by Shiites. This is a promising sign:
It’s pay week for the patrolmen who helped flush al Qaeda militants out of their Baghdad neighborhoods. Only this time, it is the Shi’ite-led Iraqi government that is paying the mainly Sunni fighters, rather than the U.S. military.
Putting the fighters, many of whom were once insurgents, on the payroll of a government they once fought is seen as a major test of reconciliation as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw.
The Iraqi army began paying them at dozens of stations opened this week throughout Baghdad.
The U.S. military says the fighters number 100,000, about half of them in Baghdad province. The government took charge of the Baghdad fighters last month and plans to take on those in other parts of the country in coming months.
(Via Instapundit.)
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