By Muhanad Mohammed and Jim Loney
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Like thousands of his compatriots, Mounir Ahmed Kalifa fought on more than one side in the Iraq war but ultimately took a stand against al Qaeda militants and is now reaping his reward -- a government job.
Kalifa, a Sunni Muslim ex-construction worker, took up with insurgents after the 2003 U.S. invasion. But when his brother was killed by al Qaeda, Kalifa became one of the "Sons of Iraq" -- thousands of fighters, farmers and others who switched sides.
Now, Kalifa has a new job at the Environment Ministry.
"The hiring of Sons of Iraq is a duty of the government, to pay back its indebtedness to the people who took their lives in their hands and fought the most powerful terrorist organisation in the world, and achieved the victory," Kalifa, 32, said.
The U.S. military calls the Awakening or Sahwa movement "heroes" and credits them with helping turn the tide against a ferocious insurgency that killed tens of thousands.
In the lead-up to March elections, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has made security a cornerstone of his campaign as Iraq tries to cement tenuous gains against the sectarian slaughter that peaked in 2006-07.
The Shi'ite-dominated government has tried to fulfil a promise to employ those who changed allegiance and formed a police auxiliary to secure neighbourhoods. But critics say that the government was slow to live up to its pledge.
The U.S. military first welcomed the Sahwa fighters, offering $300 (186 pounds)-a-month salaries in a war-battered country with high unemployment. When the program was turned over to Iraq in 2008, Baghdad left some fighters unpaid for months.
Some complained the integration was too slow, and that efforts by government officials to arrest some Sahwa leaders for alleged crimes could send them back to the insurgency.
But now, nearly 50,000 Sons of Iraq of an estimated 83,000 have been integrated into government jobs, Iraqi officials say.
That includes about 15,000 hired into the Interior Ministry, which controls Iraq's 300,000-member police force. Sons of Iraq are not being hired for the military due to a political agreement to preserve the sectarian balance there.
NO MAJOR CRACK
Nearly 9,500 Sahwa in Baghdad have been transferred to the Interior Ministry but none in the provinces, said Zuhair al-Galabi, a government official working on the integration.
Galabi said Iraq purposely stalled the integration outside of Baghdad until after a March 7 parliamentary election, at the request of security officials who say Sahwa need to continue neighbourhood patrols.
"After the elections, if the security situation is stable, (we) will transfer the remaining Iraq's sons to ministries within a period not exceeding 10 days," said Galabi, head of the Sahwa program at the Implementation and Follow-up Committee for National Reconciliation.
The government plans to create 115,000 public sector jobs in 2010, a portion of which will go to Sons of Iraq, officials say.
But as the March poll draws closer, some Sunnis feel they are under mounting pressure. Attempts to bar Sunni candidates, security crackdowns and the release from prison of radicalised Sunni insurgents raise concerns some Sahwa may fight again.
"I don't think we'll see a major crack, but there may be a higher rate of recidivism than we've seen so far," said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Hussain Hamed, a 23-year-old handyman, has been promised one of the government jobs, and like many Iraqis he believes it will provide lifetime security, while freeing him from night patrols.
"I'm so happy to get a government job to guarantee my future at this time when it is difficult to get jobs," he said. "I will not spend the night working and return to a normal life."
(Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Michael Christie and Mark Trevelyan)
