Some U.S.-backed Iraqi fighters desert posts

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, May 6 (Reuters) - Some U.S.-allied Sunni Arab fighters who helped drive al Qaeda out of much of Iraq are deserting their posts because of delays in pay and a spate of arrests and government raids targeting them, their leaders say.

And though the militiamen, many of whom are ex-insurgents who switched sides, are not rejoining the insurgency en masse, leaders fear some will soon see that as their best option.

U.S. military officials say hiccups in pay are temporary and that Iraq knows the programme is too important to fail.

...

In Baghdad's Adhamiya district, Sunni guard leader Abu Omar sits at a dusty desk that once belonged to his brother, the guard unit's boss until he was slain on duty last July.

"Without us, things would return to what they were in 2005. What Awakening guards can do in two hours, U.S. and Iraqi troops weren't able to do in four years," the chain-smoking ex-military intelligence officer said defiantly.

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