Government of Iraq follows up initial payments, issues SoI salaries for November

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Meadows | From right, Mohammed Kadhen Al Masawy, Sons of Iraq manager; Esam Saadon Mohammed, Government of Iraq representative of the prime minister council; and Iraqi Capt. Hadi, 8th Brigade, 2nd National Police Division financial officer, verify the identification of SoI members at Joint Security Station Beladiyat, Dec. 18.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

12.18.2008

Story by Staff Sgt. Matthew Meadows 

4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division Public Affairs

By Staff Sgt. Matt Meadows
4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq – Government of Iraq officials made monthly salary payments to 80 Sons of Iraq and Daughters of Iraq members at Joint Security Station Beladiyat in eastern Baghdad, Dec. 18.

Each SoI member received salaries of 354,000 Iraqi dinars, about $300 in U.S. currency. However, many SoI and DoI members were working at checkpoints on payday, and GoI officials arranged to pay them a few days later at the JSS, which is just one of many SoI payment locations in Baghdad.

The GoI initially accepted responsibility for paying SoI and DoI salaries, Oct. 1, when they began integrating them into Iraqi security force and GoI civil service jobs. The November salary payments paid at JSS Beladiyat, Dec. 18, marked a follow up to initial payments made there in November for work SoI and DoI members performed in October.

"It is good to be working with the Iraqi government and [to] let the Iraqi government take control of this," said Amar Mahdi, who has been a SoI member for the past five months. "It is really good from the financial [aspect], because we are guaranteed we are going to take home payment from them."

In the past, coalition force soldiers paid SoI and DoI to provide security in their local neighborhoods as a community security force. Since Oct. 1 however, the GoI has fully embraced the SoI and DoI.

"The Iraqi government has a plan to let some of the SoI members work with the Iraqi local police and the Iraqi national police," explained Mohammad Kadhen Al Masawy, SoI manager who was on site at JSS Beladiyat to help identify SoI members. In addition to incorporating SoI into ISF units, which has already happened, officials distributed biography-request forms to SoI members. This will allow GoI representatives to assess SoI and DoI members' experiences and potential to fill civilian jobs in GoI Civil Service Districts.

Esam Saadon Mohammed, a GoI representative from the Iraqi prime minister's council, helped verify the identification of SoI members before they received their salary payments, Dec. 18. He said having the SoI and DoI as government employees strengthens the GoI and credited them with being a great force in quelling violence.

"It should be a partnership between the Government of Iraq and the SoI because they are real Iraqi citizens, so it should be the Iraqi government in charge of them," expressed Mohammed. "The violence is decreasing, so it really helped the Iraqi government. Because they work inside the neighborhoods, they really were a main reason for allowing the violence and extremism to go down.

"All of the staff in the Iraqi government, we are really taking care of the SoI members," continued Mohammed, saying all of the people in the GoI, including the prime minister, have embraced the project to incorporate the SoI and DoI.

• Date Taken: 12.18.2008
• Date Posted: 12.21.2008 11:19
• Story ID: 27967
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ