From The Long War Journal, Arab Jabour: “This is al Qaeda Country”.
... Like in the Haswa region and elsewhere in southern Baghdad province, the local Iraqis began organizing their own auxiliary police forces to secure their neighborhood and eject al Qaeda.
In Arab Jabour, a man named General Mustaffa organized the group of Concerned Citizens. Mustaffa, a former officer in Saddam Hussein’s army, recruited locals in Arab Jabour as the US Army moved into the region during Operation Marne Torch in mid-June.
Mustaffa and his volunteers saw the opportunity to eject al Qaeda from their neighborhoods after years of living under the oppressive form of Shariah law. “Al Qaeda killed our sons, ruined our infrastructure, displaced families, used sectarianism violence against our people,” Mustaffa said in an interview with The Long War Journal. “They killed our vital workers: electricians, engineers, those who ran the water pumps.”
Mustaffa’s Concerned Citizens number 537 men of all ages. In Arab Jabour, the Concerned Citizens man checkpoints and provide security for schools, the water purification plant, and water pumps that fill the vital irrigation canals and supply water to the farmlands.
The Concerned Citizens wear orange and yellow road-guards vests, and carry their own rifles. Most carry the ubiquitous AK-47, but other more antiquated weapons were seen in their hands. Like in Haswa and elsewhere throughout Multinational Division Central, the US is prohibited from arming the volunteers. “We absolutely cannot provide them weapons or ammunition,” said Captain Eric Melloh, the company commander for Alpha Company during a joint patrol with Concerned Citizens near Patrol Base Murray. “Besides, they have everything they need.”
US soldiers have accepted the Concerned Citizens in Arab Jabour, despite the very high likelihood that several were shooting them just several months ago. During a patrol, the soldiers gave up bottled water while the Concerned Citizens offered fruit. Cigarettes and jokes were exchanged. “I’ll go home to Wal-Mart and get a bunch of those vests and hand them out,” one soldier said, remarking on the ability of the Concerned Citizens to identify IEDs and provide security. ...
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