Shiite-dominated national government sees US-trained Sunni police as threat
October 27, 2007 12:47 pm Sunni Insurgents Fight al-Qaeda in Iraq, IraqGordon, Iraq Balks as U.S. Seeks to Enlarge Sunnis’ Policing - New York Times, October 28, 2007
HABBANIYA, Iraq — The American military’s push to organize Sunni Arabs into local neighborhood watch groups has been one of the United States’ most important initiatives in Iraq — so much so that President Bush flew to Anbar Province in September to highlight growing alliances with Sunni tribal leaders.
But now that the Americans are trying to institutionalize the arrangement by training the Sunnis to become police officers, the effort has been hampered by halfhearted support and occasionally outright resistance from a Shiite-dominated national government that is still inclined to see the Sunnis as a once and future threat.