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1.1 Overview: Iraq’s current security landscape
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Prevalence of armed groups and militias
Iraq’s security situation remains fragile.5 There have been marked decreases in sectarian
violence and Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)-led insurgent activity since the early-2007 United
States’ troop surge, the so called Anbar awakening6 and the subsequent mobilisation of
Sunni militias in Concerned Local Citizens groups. However, Iraq’s security landscape
remains characterised by a number of deep fault lines, the most potentially explosive of
which include Shia groups’ dominance of Iraq’s security forces;7 the need to fulfil the
expectations aroused by the US’ mobilisation of Sunni Sons of Iraq groups;8 and the
increasingly inexorable movement of Shia splinter militia groups towards Iranian influence.
Avoiding the sectarian security trap
The recent growth of Concerned Local Citizen groups from Sunni areas to include the
predominantly Shia regions of Iraq is a positive step towards the provision of pan-sectarian
security. Indeed, bridging the sectarian security divide is a necessary step to help the US
avoid the situation where they are paying, fighting, and dying to build a severely flawed
democracy.
The need for non-sectarian democracy-supporting security initiatives
Anchoring democracy in Iraq will require the sustainable security that can only be
guaranteed through the active participation of Iraqis at all levels of society. As well as topdown
security initiatives which focus on defeating the country’s armed groups and militias,
counter-insurgency efforts in Iraq must ‘sell’ democracy to ordinary Iraqis, by meeting their
security needs. To build a real democracy in Iraq, US security efforts in the country should
support grassroots micro-security initiatives, centred in local communities, and which focus
on addressing the grievances that prompt angry young men to take up arms.