Baghdad, Iraq — Ordinary Iraqis helping take responsibility for neighborhood security and earning money while doing so are contributing to the downturn in violence in Baghdad. In the volatile Adhamiya District of East Baghdad last month, Iraqi Security Volunteers, or ISVs, found a large cache of explosives as well as a number of car bombs and reported it to U.S. and Iraqi Army forces. It was the fifth such find for them in just a few weeks. West of Baghdad, another group of volunteers discovered a large cache of artillery shells through a tip from a local resident. And in the East Rashid area of southeast Baghdad, ISV’s establishing a neighborhood headquarters in a rented house last week, found two artillery shells that could have been used to blow up U.S. and Iraqi security forces. “The ISVs are doing a good and important job,” said Army Capt, Alfred Boone, the main in charge of the ISV project in East Rashid. “This is a temporary security solution that could lead to these groups going into the Iraqi Army or the National Police.” The ISVs fall under the general, overall nomenclature of Concerned Local Citizens, a force distrusted in its present state by the Shiite-dominated government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, which fears the predominately Sunni CLC could become a military force outside the control of the government. The CLC was first established in the Sunni dominated areas of the country and mostly made up of former Sunni tribal militia members who battled al-Qaida-Iraq (AQI). They were and are, upcountry, a direct result of the “Awakening” movement by Sunni tribal leaders who are cooperating with U.S. forces after rebelling against AQI’s terror and violence. President George W. Bush and Gen. David Petraeus, architect of the counter-insurgency strategy now being followed in Iraq, credit the movement with being a major factor in the drop in violence nationwide and in pushing AQI out of their strongholds. A cornerstone of the strategy, which includes the surge of U.S. forces into Baghdad, is securing neighborhoods from a return of terrorists once the terrorists are driven out. That means boots on the ground in the communities, or in this case, shoes and sandals. “The fact is concerned local citizens are helping provide security in these villages (in the country) and (protect) the infrastructure,” Air Force Col. Donald Bacon, chief of strategy and plans and strategic communications for Multinational Forces in Iraq told journalists recently. “Without it, AQI would move back into these areas if we didn’t have our forces there.” In East Rashid, part of the larger Doura District of Baghdad, more than 200 men turned up recently at St. Peter’s Chaldean Catholic Seminary on the first day of recruiting for just 135 ISV slots. They sat for hours behind a razor-wired enclosure on the campus of the seminary, where a company of U.S. troops established a forward combat post during street battles earlier this year. One by one they were called forward, presented identity documents and were questioned by Iraqi interpreters who registered their information. They were then finger-printed by a team of Americans, who also photographed them and took biometric information, such as retinal scans, for entry into a new database and for cross-referencing. Later, if no immediate red flags were raised and they were chosen, they were issued identification cards, a permit to carry their weapon on while on duty and scheduled for a short training session on weapons handling, detention procedures and the like. If further data checks later turned up their names as people wanted for attacking coalition forces or for other crimes, American troops, the Iraqi National Police and the Iraqi Army, would have the information on where to find them. “I don’t have a job,” Hazem Abdullah Ali, a middle aged a recruit said. “I need the job. And I want to help bring peace,” Volunteers for the U.S.-Iraqi funded program, first vetted and approved to apply by community leaders, are paid $10 a day and use their own weapon (under Iraqi law, each household is allowed to possess one AK-47 rifle). In the sectarian-mixed East Rashid area they man checkpoints on roads leading into the muhallas (neighborhoods) where they themselves live. Their work contracts are for 90 days. The ISV groups in East Rashid can only detain a suspect for two hours and must then turn them over to the National Police or army. On joint U.S.-Iraqi military patrols through the district, the currently rag-tag group of volunteers can be seen on the street corners 24/7, weapons in hand, checking identity papers of people entering their neighborhoods and looking out for strangers. Of special concern is the muhallah of Hayy al Hadar – a virtual no-man’s-land of now deserted houses. AQI had pushed out its residents, established it as a stronghold with weapons and explosives caches and even a torture center before U.S. forces gained control of the area in autumn 2007. Army Col. John RisCassi, commander of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment in charge of the area, says re-infiltration of AQI into Hayy al Hadar remains a concern. “The major challenges facing us …are preventing AQI from reorganizing and reconstituting in Hayy al Hadar, and identifying and eliminating any possible AQI infiltration into the Concerned Local Citizens groups. ISV guardposts, the taking and checking of biometric information, as well as using the ISVs in their own neighborhoods, are attempting to address those concerns. But despite the challenges, the inclusion of ISVs into the security structure of East Rashid appears to be paying dividends. “Since coalition forces eliminated Hadar as a bastion for AQI activity, CLCs and ISF (Iraqis security forces) have become increasing more active across the district with a positive effect on the overall security situation and on the local population’s perception of their security forces,” RisCassi said.
