6,000 Sunnis Join Pact With US in Iraq

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

6,000 Sunnis Join Pact With US in Iraq

Thursday November 29, 2007 12:01 AM

By LAUREN FRAYER

Associated Press Writer

HAWIJA, Iraq (AP) - Nearly 6,000 Sunni Arab residents
joined a security pact with American forces Wednesday in
what U.S. officers described as a critical step in plugging
the remaining escape routes for extremists flushed from
former strongholds.

The new alliance - called the single largest single volunteer
mobilization since the war began - covers the “last gateway”
for groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq seeking new havens in
northern Iraq, U.S. military officials said.

U.S. commanders have tried to build a ring around insurgents
who fled military offensives launched earlier this year in the
western Anbar province and later into Baghdad and
surrounding areas. In many places, the U.S.-led battles were
given key help from tribal militias - mainly Sunnis - that had
turned against al-Qaida and other groups.

-snip-

The ceremony to pledge the 6,000 new fighters was presided
over by dozen sheiks - each draped in black robes trimmed
with gold braiding - who signed the contract on behalf of
tribesmen at a small U.S. outpost in north-central Iraq.

-snip-

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