JOURNAL: Another 'Awakening' in Iraq?

There are strong indications that the Iraqi Awakening program that shut down Iraq's open source insurgency program is in trouble. Rod Nordland has the story: 

These are among the signs that the fighters’ patience is fraying badly at a difficult moment. After months of promises, only 5,000 Awakening members — just over 5 percent — have been given permanent jobs in the Iraqi security forces. Those promises were made last year when Iraq was flush with oil money. Now with Iraq’s budget badly battered by falling oil prices, the government is having trouble even paying existing employees, much less to bring in Sunni gunmen already regarded with much suspicion by the Shiite-led government. In interviews with leaders from a dozen local Awakening Councils, nearly all complained that full-time jobs were lacking, that pay was in arrears and that members were being arrested despite promises of amnesty.

It's important to remember that this arrangement was open source counter-insurgency in action, and not the officially sanctioned COIN doctrine (since the groups aren't loyal to the Iraqi government).  To entice participation, these groups were provided a combination of money, training, and protection by US forces (against Shiite militias and the Iraqi government).  Once that ends, as it appears to be, these groups will shift back into active opposition to what they see as an illegitimate government.   

See:  "Open Source Counter-Insurgency" for more.