New group working with coalition forces to help secure Sadr City

[unhappycamper]

Young men dance and chant, waving their certificates at the end of a brief graduation ceremony for the newly formed “Neighborhood Guard” on Wednesday at the U.S. Army’s Forward Operating Base War Eagle. More than 50 men from Jamilla graduated from a three-day training course for the program, which is similar to the “Sons of Iraq.”


New group working with coalition forces to help secure Sadr City
By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, June 13, 2008

SADR CITY, Iraq — Ihmad Abed Alkrem, a 23-year-old without steady work, said he wants to help take his city back.

Instead of relying on coalition forces to secure his neighborhood, the time has come to do it themselves, says Alkrem, who lives in the Jamilla section of Sadr City.

"Yeah, we want them to go," Alkrem said, referring to the U.S. Army presence in his city.

This past weekend, Alkrem and about 50 other residents of Jamilla were to take to the streets for their first day on the job as members of the newly formed "Neighborhood Guard."

After three days of training at the U.S. Army’s Forward Operating Base War Eagle, the young men are now being paid by coalition forces to work as members of the first neighborhood watch-style group in Sadr City.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55490