U.S. plans to arm Iraq´s Sunni tribesmen with AK-47s, RPGs, mortars

WASHINGTON: The United States plans to buy arms for Sunni tribesmen in Iraq including AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds to help bolster the
battle against Islamic State militants in Anbar province, according to a Pentagon document prepared for Congress.

The plan to spend $24.1 million represents a small fraction of the larger, $1.6 billion spending request to Congress focusing on training and arming Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

But the document underscored the importance the Pentagon places on the Sunni tribesmen to its overall strategy to diminish Islamic State, and cautioned Congress about the consequences of failing to assist them.

"Not arming tribal fighters will continue to leave anti-ISIL tribes reluctant to actively counter ISIL," the document said, using another acronym for the group which has seized control of large parts of Syrian and Iraq and is gaining territory in Anbar
despite three months of U.S.-led air strikes.

A U.S. official said on Saturday that the document was posted this week. Click http://1.usa.gov/11nsTuN to read it.

It said all U.S. support was directed "with, by and through" Iraq´s government, suggesting any weapons would be supplied through Baghdad, in line with existing policy.I

t noted Iraqi security forces were not "not particularly welcome in Anbar and other majority Sunni areas," citing their poor combat performance and sectarian divisions.

Iraq´s army has been burdened by a legacy of sectarianism in Anbar, whose dominant Sunni population resented former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki´s Shi´ite majority government and were incensed when he ordered troops to clear a protest camp in
Ramadi in December 2013/