Iraqi ‘recruits’ helping to keep Diyala safe

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Iraqi ‘recruits’ helping to keep Diyala safe
By Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, February 3, 2009

SARI TAPA, Iraq — A group of Kalashnikov-wielding young men in street clothes sits by a makeshift checkpoint on the outskirts of this gritty farming village in northeastern Diyala province, rocks strewn across the road to slow cars. Under normal circumstances, U.S. troops coming upon such a group would ready themselves for a firefight.

This time, a group of American soldiers is stopping simply to check that the Iraqis have been paid.

Even by the lax uniform standards of Iraqi security forces, the group is ragtag, but it is part of a new force organized by the provincial government to augment the Iraqi army and provide jobs for Iraqis in places where unemployment is often the norm. The Diyala program is drawing mixed reactions from U.S. soldiers, who applaud the increased security but are deeply nervous about the potential for mistaken identity.

"Yeah, they scare the (expletive) out of us because they don’t have any uniforms," said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Cody Pittman, whose platoon patrols an area that includes the Sari Tapa and several other security stations.

The men making up the new force are known simply as "recruits," and the headquarters where they stay are called "security stations." They are paid by the Iraqi army.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60431