London Times: U.S. Paid Sunnis to Fight in Iraq

Posted by The Crux | During General David Petraeus' reports to Congress, we learned that former Sunni insurgents have begun fighting on our side in Iraq. Sunday, I came across a London Times article that states:

"American forces are paying Sunni insurgents hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to switch sides and help them to defeat Al-Qaeda in Iraq. 

"The tactic has boosted the efforts of American forces to restore some order to war-torn provinces around Baghdad in the run-up to a report by General David Petraeus, the US commander, to Congress tomorrow....

"In a letter to US troops, the general wrote that 'local Iraqi leaders are coming forward, opposing extremists and establishing provisional units of neighbourhood security volunteers.'

"The Sunday Times has witnessed at first hand the enormous sums of cash changing hands. One sheikh in a town south of Baghdad was given $38,000 (£19,000) and promised a further $189,000...."

Why weren't we handing out bags of cash four years ago? We had the money.

According to Vanity Fair, we taxpayers sent 23+ billion in cash (weighing 30+ tons) to Iraq in 2003-04; admittedly, $9 billion of it disappeared -- like those 190,000 U.S. weapons did -- but surely we could afford a few-hundred million for recruiting.