http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/18/middleeast/iraq-us-soldiers-graduate-wedeman/index.html
Weapons ‘useless’
I first spoke with Mahmoud Abid, a man in his early twenties.
How was the training, I asked. Was it useful?
“Yes, yes, very useful,” he shrugged, but quickly got around to what he really wanted to talk about.
“The weapons they gave us are useless,” he said, patting his AK-47 assault rifle.
“We can’t fight ISIS with this. We need heavier weapons, Russian or American weapons.”
He also said he had yet to be paid after four months of training.
READ MORE: Iraqi veteran who fled Mosul a year ago — ‘ISIS will never leave my city’
‘Where’s our pay?’
Mahmoud’s comrade, Hamdallah, after adjusting his AK-47 on his chest, explained that after six months he also had not been paid.
The ceremony was to be followed by distribution of salaries, I told him, so you will be paid.
“Yes, for just one month, not the other months,” he replied.
These are young men, I thought. Perhaps one of the tribal leaders who had watched the ceremony might have a better idea of what was really going on.
Shaikh Abdallah Al-Issawi is from Amariyat Al-Fallouja, a nearby Sunni town that has resisted ISIS for 18 months.
A tall man in a traditional robe or dishdasha, and headscarf, he radiated the authority of a man who leads other men in battle.
Is it true these volunteers haven’t been paid in months? I asked.
“Until now, they haven’t been paid one dinar,” he said.
“Even if they’ve been well-trained, they’re disenchanted. Their families can’t buy a bag of flour, a gallon of gas or a kilo of tomatoes.”
All the while, he added, “officials and officers come to this base, promise this and that, and nothing changes.”
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