Let me set the stage...

US military to hand back Sunni bastion of Anbar to Iraq

4 days ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) — The US military is to hand over security control of the former Sunni insurgent bastion of Anbar province to Iraqi forces in the next 10 days, a US military spokesman announced on Monday.

"The handover of Anbar is expected to take place in the next 10 days," Lieutenant David Russell told AFP, declining to provide an exact date.

It was scheduled to take place tomorrow. The MNF-I web site still has this cite from the NYT prominently featured in the news section: "Iraqi forces to take over Anbar province." Funny thing though when you click on the link you are directed to this NYT article: "Weather Delays U.S. Handover Of Iraqi Province." Yeah right, as if...! Blame it on the weather!

Of course this would have nothing to do with it...

Two insurgent bomb blasts struck Thursday at pro-American Iraqi targets in Anbar Province just west of Baghdad and in the northern city of Mosul. The police said more than 30 Iraqis were killed and 80 wounded.

An American military spokesman and Iraqi police officials said that three American marines were killed in the Anbar attack and that two interpreters were also among the dead. The American military command was preparing to hand control of the province, once considered the hotbed of the insurgency, to Iraqi forces.

The bombings extended a pattern of multiple-casualty attacks in recent days that are clearly intended to kill local Iraqi leaders, in particular those who are believed to have collaborated with American forces against insurgents. Thursday’s attacks were among a string of deadly episodes in the past week that broke the previous several weeks’ lull in violence.

Nor this...

One civilian on Thursday was wounded by a car bomb explosion targeting a U.S. patrol in Mosul, a Ninewa police source said. This incident was the third in a fresh wave of attacks in the northern city of Mosul, bringing the casualties' toll to 17 killed and 66 wounded.

Who's being blamed for this sudden rash of violence? AQI, but of course! It couldn't possibly be disgruntled Sunni 'Awakening' members or Sons of Iraq. Or could it...?

Fatehoon correspondents in Adhamiya, Taji, Tikrit, Baaquba, Ramadi, and Hilla report that a large number of Awakening members have been in contact in recent days with armed Iraqi factions that are still at war with the Americans and the government forces in those areas where they [the Awakening people] were active, asking them for forgiveness and for the acceptance of their return to the ranks of the fighting factions, including those [factions] that have a strong relationship with the AlQaeda organization. And some of our correspondents have learned that there was a welcome, in more than one location, for their return once again to the fight.

Hmmm... The NYT article elaborates further...

Most of the episodes have occurred in Sunni or mixed Sunni-Shiite areas where there has been mounting frustration over the lack of a political deal giving power to all of Iraq’s factions. Some were in small neighborhoods like Abu Dshir on the southern edge of Baghdad, and Madaen, which lies just to its southeast. There was also an attack on Tuesday on the Sadr City neighborhood council which killed six Iraqis, four Americans and an Iraqi-Italian interpreter.

Both of Thursday’s attacks raised questions about assertions by the United States military that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and other Sunni extremist groups had been largely vanquished. . . .

In Baghdad and in Anbar Province, there have been substantial American and Iraqi military campaigns to root out the insurgency. In those areas and in Diyala Province, where there was a suicide bombing a week ago, the Shiite-led government in Baghdad has frustrated the efforts of Sunni leaders to find government security jobs for Sunni tribal figures and former insurgents.

Although many of these people joined the Awakening movement and were paid by the Americans to help fight Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, few have been put on the government’s payroll.

“The government didn’t support the Awakening Councils enough,” said Omar Abdul Sattar, a member of Parliament from Ramadi who belongs to the Iraqi Islamic Party, a leading Sunni group.

Interestingly, Gen. Betrayus's mouthpiece Baghdad Bergner had to chime in...

Right on schedule, and almost as if to promote this process of re-confrontation between ex-Awakenings and the US forces, AlHayat reports interview remarks by Bergner of the US forces to the effect that there is no longer a need for some of the Awakenings, and adding that there will now have to be a difficult process of directing them to other spheres of activity.

Dr.iRack sums it up...

Apparently, there is escalating anger over the slow pace of ISF integration and Iraqi government outreach (all in the context of increasing intra-Sunni competition in the lead up to provincial elections). Will we see rising attacks by "former" Awakening members who turn back to AQI because they are frustrated at the lack of accommodation by the Iraqi government?

Dr.iRack doesn't know, but it is something to watch in the coming weeks.

Definitely, something to keep an eye on...!