Citing unnamed Iraqi government officials, current and
former members of the Awakening Councils and insurgents, the newspaper said
that although there were no firm figures, hundreds of fighters appear to have
rejoined Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia in recent months. Many of them would have
gained extensive knowledge about the US military, it said.
Officials also said that possibly thousands of Awakening
fighters still on the Iraqi government payroll covertly aid the insurgency.
The defections have been driven in part by frustration with
the Shiite-led government, which Awakening members say is intent on destroying
them, as well as by pressure from Al-Qaeda, the paper said.
The defections have accelerated since Iraq's inconclusive
parliamentary elections in March, which have left Sunnis uncertain of retaining
what little political influence they have in the country.
The switch in loyalties by Awakening members poses a new
threat to Iraq's social and political balance as the US military prepares to
withdraw next year, The Times noted.
“The Awakening doesn’t know what the future holds because it
is not clear what the government intends for them,” the paper quoted Nathum
Al-Jubouri, a former Awakening Council leader in Salahuddin Province, as
saying. Al-Jubouri recently quit the organization.
“At this point, Awakening members have two options: Stay
with the government, which would be a threat to their lives, or help Al-Qaeda
by being a double agent,” he said. “The Awakening is like a database for
Al-Qaeda that can be used to target places that had been out of reach before.”
The Awakening began in 2006, when Sunni insurgents and
tribal leaders began turning against Al-Qaeda and other extremists — a change
that played a major role in pulling Iraq back from the brink. The former
insurgents were initially paid by the American military, with promises that
they would eventually get jobs with the government.
But Awakening leaders and security officials say that since
the spring, as many as several thousand Awakening fighters have quit, been
fired, stopped showing up for duty, or ceased picking up paychecks.
During the past four months, the atmosphere has become
particularly charged as the Awakening members find themselves squeezed between
Iraqi security forces, who have arrested hundreds of current and former members
accused of acts of recent terrorism, and Al-Qaeda’s recruitment techniques, the
report said.
As part of the militants’ unusual, though often convincing
strategy, Awakening members that Al-Qaeda fails to kill are then sought out to
rejoin the insurgency. They are offered larger paychecks than their $300 a
month government pay and told that they would be far safer.
The government, which says it is trying to integrate the
Awakening into broader Iraqi society, has also angered the group by
confiscating its weapons, saying Awakening fighters lack proper permits, and
stripping some fighters of their ranks, which the government says were not
properly earned. The pay of some Awakening leaders has also been reduced.
