http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080102/..._new_awakening
US offers Iraqis service jobs By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 32 minutes ago
HUDA, Iraq - Children skip across a stream of raw sewage on a side road, trash piles up in a dusty lot and there are few desks — and even fewer chairs — in the village school's dark, cold classrooms.
On the main street, fruits and vegetables are displayed for sale on sacks lying under corrugated metal awnings.
Huda, a Shiite village of about 3,000 southeast of Baghdad, sits on the edge of a region the U.S. military and locals say is dominated by insurgents and al-Qaida in Iraq. Here, many men are out of work, and the village is in desperate need of basic services.
Grinding poverty and disillusionment with the government and U.S.-led coalition can create fertile ground for insurgent or militia recruitment.
But the U.S. military believes it has a way to help residents and the village by providing jobs that also could dim the allure of militancy.
Modeled on a program under which the U.S. pays armed groups who turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, the military has begun recruiting villagers for public service jobs — working to improve sanitation, do repairs and pick up trash.
"Today is a new idea," said Capt. John Horning, the 36-year-old company commander of C Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment stationed in the area. Instead of hiring people to secure their neighborhoods, "we'll have them doing sanitation, cleaning up the area, reconstruction."
"It's a pilot program," said Horning, from Houston, Texas. "We'll see how it works."
The hope is that the jobs will give residents a legitimate way to make a living and prevent them from turning to militia or insurgent groups, many of which are suspected of paying men to carry out attacks.
"Only barely second to security in my neighborhood is employment, and so I've got to find a way to make that bridge," said Lt. Col. Jack Marr, commander of the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment. Instead of having Iraqis "out there with guns ..., I hand them a shovel and get them digging up trash."
Each person hired will receive a salary of $300 a month, the same amount as members of the mainly Sunni armed groups known as Awakening Councils who now protect their neighborhoods with the help of American and Iraqi forces.
The Awakening Councils — 70,000-strong and growing fast — have contributed to a 60 percent decrease in violence across Iraq since June, along with a six-month cease-fire called in August by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for his Mahdi Army militia and an extra 30,000 U.S. troops sent into Baghdad.
Horning's region, which covers about 100 square miles and 12 towns, has both Sunni and Shiite Awakening groups.
With less violence — residents say Huda hasn't been attacked by mortars for three months — people can concentrate on rebuilding their lives.
"Here where security is better, we need the return to normalcy," Horning said. "We're putting dollars into the economy, to get people working. People see that there's hope, that there's an alternative."
But with the project funded by the U.S., what happens when American forces leave?
"If we have a strong area and government, then there will be no problem," insists Sheik Zeidan Hussein Ali al-Masoudi. "The Americans are visitors. We must do something for ourselves. We want to live free. All Iraqis need is for the (foreign) forces to leave as soon as the work is done. ... All Iraqis want this."
On the first day of recruiting in Huda last week, three dozen men — some barely out of their teens, others with graying hair — lined up outside the dilapidated schoolhouse, their application forms in bright yellow, blue and pink folders rolled in their fists. Some have been out of work for years.
"The people here need money," Sheik Naheth Ouaidi al-Shameri, one of several sheiks who turned out, told the U.S. officer.
Majid Kerim Ali, a 35-year-old former air force sergeant under Saddam Hussein, has found only odd jobs since the U.S.-led coalition disbanded Iraq's military after the 2003 invasion.
"I am looking for a job — I'm very poor," said Ali, who has 10 children. "This will give us a chance for work, a chance for the people."
Horning said he was looking to recruit about 600 people in his region. Each area would have three groups: one for sanitation, one for building and construction, and a smaller one to provide security. In the past, Shiite militias have threatened Iraqis working on projects funded or run by the U.S. military, so workers will need protection, Horning said.
Like Awakening Council volunteers, all applicants go through biometric screening — fingerprinting, iris scans, photographs — in an attempt to ensure none are known insurgents or criminals.
Apart from boosting the economy, the new civil affairs teams could provide a solution to a pressing problem — what happens to the Awakening Councils after they have restored security.
The fighters have said they want to join the Iraqi army and police. But the Shiite-dominated government has only promised that 20,000 will be absorbed, and has pledged not to allow them to turn into a separate security force. Redirecting the rest toward reconstruction might ease tensions.
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said Sunday that Iraq is matching $155 million the U.S. has set aside to create jobs and provide vocational training for the fighters.
The new project might also help heal the sectarian divide.
In the nearby Shiite village of Wahida, where C Company's projects include a new clinic and refurbishing a school, Sheik Ali Hussein hands Horning a list of candidates for a new civil affairs group. It contains the names of four Sunnis.
It is nice to see things progessing in Iraq finally, if this trend continues the US might emerge from this situation victoriously. In the grand scheme of things, if the fighting continues to slow and hopefully eventually stop, people 100 years from now may look back and say it was a good idea to invade Iraq and overthrow the dictator, but who really knows? Just keep praying for these people that they may experience peace at some point in this life. :thumbs_up