Iraqi forces adapt to hold Mosul

Stars and Stripes ^ | 6/5/08 | James Warden

[Dawnsblood]

Cruise the streets of Mosul, and you’ll see plenty of men wearing one of the Iraqi army’s handful of motley uniforms. You’ll see a similarly large number of men wearing the Iraqi police uniform. You’ll probably even run into several American soldiers wearing their distinctive digital camouflage.

But what you won’t see is the tan, buttoned-down shirts worn by many "Sons of Iraq" volunteers. That’s because Mosul, unlike so many other parts of Iraq, does not use "Sons of Iraq" — the term the U.S. military uses for armed civilians paid by the U.S. to guard their own neighborhoods.

Those groups, which first started up in Anbar province, have been credited with bringing stability to violent areas. The Associated Press reported Sunday that some of the groups, also called Awakening Councils, are talking about fielding their own candidates in provincial elections this fall.

But "Sons of Iraq" groups work best in communities with a single, straightforward, sectarian rift, said Lt. Col. Robert Molinari, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment operations officer. Baghdad, for example, is primarily split between Sunni Arabs and Shiite Arabs. Mosul, though, is a cosmopolitan city with significant Arab, Kurd, Christian, Turkoman and other populations.

"If you employ one of them (as "Sons of Iraq"), you have to cater to all of them," he said.

"Sons of Iraq" groups also were designed to provide security for neighborhoods without enough security forces, a problem Mosul doesn’t have. This city of some 2 million people has 14 Iraqi army battalions, 10,000 Iraqi police and 4,000 coalition force soldiers.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"Baghdad has...Sunni Arabs and Shiite Arabs."

Just a detail, but these are Sunni and Shiite Muslms. A "Arab" is a racial/ethnic designation. "Muslim" is a religious designation.