The United States Now Funds and Arms Insurgents

The US military has embarked on a new and risky strategy in Iraq by arming Sunni insurgents in the hope that they will tackle the extremist al-Qaida in Iraq.

The US high command this month gave permission to its officers on the ground to negotiate arms deals with local leaders. Arms, ammunition, body armour and other equipment, as well as cash, pick-up trucks and fuel, have already been handed over in return for promises to turn on al-Qaida and not attack US troops. | Guardian

I can hardly believe what I'm reading. We're now funding and arming insurgents...who "promise" not to attack us. Similar to how we funded the Taliban to fight the Russians in Afghanistan? I'm sure glad that didn't come back later to bite us in the ass...

Apparently these insurgents have also been given the power of arrest!

American officers acknowledge that providing weapons to breakaway rebel groups is not new in counterinsurgency warfare, and that in places where it has been tried before, including the French colonial war in Algeria, the British-led fight against insurgents in Malaya in the early 1950s, and in Vietnam, the effort often backfired, with weapons given to the rebels being turned against the forces providing them. | The New York Times

As if this isn't enough, the US is clearly undermining Iraq's government by arming these militias:

" 'The government's aim is to disarm and demobilize the militias in Iraq,' said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a political adviser to Mr. Maliki. 'And we have enough militias in Iraq that we are struggling now to solve the problem. Why are we creating new ones?' " | The New York Times

One US intelligence officer said that "we have made a deal with devil."

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