Sunni role in military in Iraq falls short of goal

The United States has not reached its goal of building an Iraqi army that is at least 30 percent Sunni Muslims, and in some crucial battles, the Shi’ites and Kurds did much of the fighting, according to defense sources.

The ethnic mix is important because Washington does not want Sunnis to perceive the Iraqi Security Force (ISF) as de facto fighting a civil war against them — with Shi’ite and Kurdish government troops conducting raids against Sunni insurgents.

The American command, which has a goal of a combined army-national guard force of about 86,000, wants the Sunni representation to be about 30 percent, matching the population at large. The goal is to have the army filled out by Shi’ites (60 percent) and Kurds (10 percent), according to a command spokesman.

But according to defense sources, Sunni participation falls short.

Army Capt. Timothy Jeffers, a military spokesman for the U.S. training mission in Iraq, said, “To date, the current ethnic mix is unknown.

“When it comes to the national army, it has always been the intent of commanders and planners to maintain a healthy blend of ethnic representation,” he added. “Unfortunately, we have had various degrees of success with this approach.”

Terror leader Abu Musab Zarqawi has been trying to spark a civil war by sending his suicide bombers against Shi’ite targets in southern Iraq. In a taped message played on an Islamist Web site last week, Zarqawi lambasted Shi’ites for participating in November’s battle in Fallujah.

In that battle, during which U.S. Marines and soldiers purged the city of terrorists, an Iraq police commando battalion took part by taking the hospital and Iraqi army battalions engaged in urban combat.

A defense source said the commando unit was overwhelmingly made up of Kurds and Shi’ites.

“The only people who would fight were the Kurds and a few Shi’ites,” the source said. “The Kurds fought by far the best.”

Five Iraq army battalions, which had fought in the Shi’ite city of Najaf, came north to join the Marines in the bloody urban combat to free Fallujah.

Sunnis, who make up about 30 percent of Iraq’s population of 25 million, ruled the country during dictator Saddam Hussein’s 30-year rule. They ran the ruling Ba’ath Party, got all the top jobs and received perks such as the best homes, automobiles and steady electric power.

Thousands of these Sunnis are running the anti-coalition insurgency and are putting great pressure on fellow Sunnis not to joint the ISF.

“You do have some Sunni Arabs joining,” one defense source said. “The need for income is so desperate over there, they will sign up.”

But the source said the desertion rate among Sunnis “is high” as members of the insurgency threaten the families of those who join and kill the soldiers themselves.

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