Program in Iraq against al-Qaida faces uncertainty
Capt. David N. Simms wanted the tribal sheiks to have no doubts _ the $500,000 his unit spends every month to pay and equip local tribesmen to keep peace here will soon run out and they had better be ready when it’s gone.
Simms handed the sheiks 600 applications for a vocational school in nearby Baghdad. It’s one option, he said, to prepare the men for life after he stops giving them salaries.
The ‘Sons of Iraq’ are the estimated 80,000 fighters _ mostly Sunni tribesmen and former insurgents _ recruited and paid by the U.S. military to help fight al-Qaida and maintain security in neighborhoods, including this Sunni farming community west of Baghdad.