Osama Al-Dulaimi/Reuters
The United States is trying to enlist armed Sunni factions and tribal people to fight ISIS on the ground in Iraq, in talks between American officials and tribal groups. Meetings occurred in Amman, Jordan, and Erbil, capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan autonomous region, where Kurdish peshmerga have been battling Islamic State militants. The effort is reminiscent of the so-called Awakening campaign the U.S. successfuly used eight years ago to persuade locals to battle al Qaeda. But some Iraqi and American officials say it is different because the plan is to incorporate Sunnis into a security force—a “National Guard”—that would decentralize power from Baghdad and address Sunni demands to stop oppression from the majority Shiite forces. Many Sunnis, however, believe the Awakening was a bust.