The Civil War Acceleration Program

Oh goody, let's pay and arm more Iraqis with sectarian viewpoints and little interest in reconciliation.

Young men armed and paid by the U.S. military took to the streets of the Iraqi capital's Sadr City area for the first time Wednesday to guard their neighborhoods, part of a new strategy designed to recruit former Shiite militiamen to American-created security groups, U.S. officials said [...]

Toting AK-47 assault rifles for a $300-a-month salary, the young men are viewed by U.S. officials as the best way to address a dearth of security forces in Sadr City, the site of bitter clashes this spring between U.S. forces and militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The officials hope the initiative will lead some militia supporters away from violence by paying them to protect the area.

But even officers helping to create the program acknowledge there is risk in supplying weapons to men who may have recently encouraged violence against U.S. troops. "Are these guys all going to be lily-white angels? No," said Maj. Byron Sarchet, information operations officer for the brigade responsible for Sadr City. "We need to tread lightly."

There's something unsettling about an armed Shiite, likely to be a Mahdi Army sympathizer or even a member, maintaining order through the barrel of a gun saying "We are here to protect our neighborhood and make sure the militias don't take control." Uh, that would be the DEFINITION of a militia member. And setting this up so that young unemployed Shiites have loyalty only to their paycheck portends disaster. It also is another way in which Bush is trying to force a permanent presence in Iraq. If we stop paying these patrols, chaos will ensue. So we must stay, and keep paying.

Here's a taste of how this could blow up in our faces:

Not all Iraqis agree. Lt. Col. Yehiye Rasul Abdullah, commander of the Iraqi army battalion in Jamila, recoiled at the idea of working with supporters of Mahdi Army fighters who killed his soldiers.

"Those who have contributed to the spilling of Iraqi blood, we will never accept them," he said after coming to check on the guards.

So when the Iraqis do send the US military packing, what is going to become of all these heavily armed foes of the government and the government security forces who hold them in contempt?

It's like we're shaking up a bunch of soda bottles and just waiting for them to explode.