USE THE DEVIL, DON'T BEFRIEND HIM:

Sunni militia joins GIs to fight al-Qaida (Joshua Partlow, 6/09/07, The Washington Post)

In an attempt to drive out al-Qaida in Iraq, American soldiers in a Baghdad neighborhood have allied themselves with dozens of Sunni militiamen who call themselves the Baghdad Patriots -- a group that the Americans believe includes insurgents who have attacked them in the past.

The Americans have granted these gunmen the power of arrest, allowed the Iraqi army to supply them with ammunition and fought alongside them in chaotic street battles.

"This is a defining moment for us," said Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl, who commands the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 1st Infantry Division.

But aligning Americans with fighters whose long-term agenda remains unclear -- with regard to either Americans or the Shiite-led government -- contradicts repeated declarations by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that no groups other than Iraqi and U.S. security forces are allowed to bear arms. And some American soldiers worry that standing up a Sunni militia could have dire consequences if the group turns on its U.S. partners.

"We have made a deal with the devil," said an intelligence officer in the battalion.

Nothing obliges us to honor the deal either. Use it as an opportunity to identify who the enemy is and then whack them after you get their help dealing with the Qaedists. If we'd done the same to the Soviets we'd have won WWII.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 9, 2007 9:02 AM