9/15-9/21 #3

the writer talks about the iraqi citizen patrols called "Awakening Councils" and that with them being involved in the different sectarian neighborhoods has greatly reduced the fighting. these patrol members are being paid by the american millitary and are worried that when the americans withdraw in the coming months they will not be paid anymore. there has also been different outbreaks of violence in the past months concerning council heads being squeezed out or losing money or power by other leaders in different neighborhoods. there are worries that these mostly sunni memebers will be either arrested by the shiite government or go back to the insurgency. the author seems to think that without an extremely smooth transition to the iraqi government when the americans leave that there will be alot more violence and problems created with these people holding power in their neighborhoods. the author also ends the story talking about how the council leaders deeply respect the generals in the iraqi army because they are their future. That makes sense because the iraqis dont want civilian militias running around for the next 20 years, they want the awakening council members to be absorbed into the police force or to join the mililtary.
the author deals with the topic different than other sources only going into more depth with some of the problems of the council. in other articles it is discussed about the patrols worries about future jobs and that tens of thousands have been givin training in other areas or have been absorbed by the police.
a question i have after reading this article is that i would like to know how much corruption there is going on in this situation. i would hope that many of these citizen soldiers arent taking our money and turning around and attacking our forces.