October 3, 2007 (LPAC)--Accusing the United States Army of "arming some Sunni groups... and giv[ing] them salaries," Humani Hamoudi, a senior Shi'ite leader in the United Iraqi Alliance, a Shi'ite bloc of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said it has "provoked astonishment, rejection and rage."

The statement issued by the United Iraqi Alliance said that it condemns the U.S. Army's embracing in Baghdad "those terrorist elements which committed the most hideous crimes against our (Shiite) people." The statement also accused the U.S. Army of "authorizing the groups to conduct security acts away from the jurisidiction of the government and without its knowledge."

The Washington Post says the U.S. officials acknowledge that many of the Sunni tribesmen recruited have been involved with various Sunni insurgent groups, and expressions of antipathy toward the Iraqi security forces and government are common among them.

The latest American alliance with the Sunni tribesmen is a by-product of the U.S. military's partnership with the Sunnis in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province. Some Iraqi and U.S. officials have long expressed their reservations about carrying out the Anbar province experience in Baghdad.