BAGHDAD - United States forces have rebranded one of the main insurgent groups in Iraq and now use the term "concerned local nationals" to refer to a group that once claimed responsibility for killing scores of Americans.
The updated vocabulary for referring to the 1920 Revolution Brigade, detailed
by a US commander, is a sign of the abrupt change in tactics that has seen American forces co-operate with former Sunni Arab enemies.
The 1920 Revolution Brigade was one of the main anti-American Sunni Arab insurgent groups in Iraq in the years after the US-led invasion in 2003 and has claimed responsibility for killing scores of US troops in ambushes and bomb attacks.
But, for the past several months, its members have co-operated with US forces to help drive the strict al Qaeda militants out of Sunni Arab areas.
Colonel David Sutherland, the US commander in Diyala Province, says his men prefer not to call the group by its name. "The 1920s, as they're called, we call them the 'Baquba guardians', we call them the 'concerned local nationals'," he said. Baquba is the provincial capital.
"These are patriots who have come forward and have joined the security process.
"They are working with my soldiers and they are working with the Iraqi security forces."
Al Qaeda's rigid adherence to a hardline form of Sunni Islam and indiscriminate attacks has isolated it from Sunni Arabs and nationalist insurgent groups.
Sutherland said the 1920 Revolution Brigade name was now being used to refer to pro-government militia and not anti-American insurgents.
Some Shiite elders were asking if they too could recruit "1920s", he said, which was a sign the Sunni Arab group's name was no longer seen as sectarian.
"It has become a name, a catch-all phrase for these concerned local nationals throughout the province."
Sutherland said his forces "do not deal with terrorists and if we have information on individuals then we will act accordingly.
"The individuals we are working with ... I have confidence in them and I have confidence in their leadership."
- Reuters
