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23 Sep 2008 08:58 am

The Awakening Cracks?

Some troubling news from Iraq:

Now in Adhamiya, and in some other areas of Iraq, the [Sunni Awakening] patrols have become increasingly unpredictable and problematic. Commanders quarrel and compete for money and territory. Finger-pointing and threats are common. There have been complaints that the men — not a few of them swaggering street toughs — use their power to intimidate neighborhood residents. Sometimes violence erupts.

“What you have is essentially armed factions, like mini-gangs that operate in a certain set of checkpoints in certain territories,” said Lt. Erick Kuylman, a patrol commander in the First Battalion, 68th Armor regiment, which operates in Adhamiya.

The Awakening Councils, he said, “met their intent” when they started, but “they have outlived, I think, their service since then.”

I fear we are currently in the eye of the Iraqi storm. The first of many.

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