An Iraqi Accord

"[The Iraqi government] needs those local tribes to secure the territory and hold the fort until government function is restored in these areas."
"The government needs to make sure that everyone who fights today has a future in Iraq tomorrow -- and not just to find a short-term military solution today and forget about them later."
Sajad Jiyad, senior researcher, al-Bayan Center for Studies and Planning, Baghdad

"People in Mosul are less enthusiastic about the entry of --- the militias into the city now because the militias have been acting like those people in Daesh [Islamic State] who looted the houses of Christians in Mosul."
Ali Mohammed Jassim, Mosul teacher, Kirkuk refugee

"The Anbar tribes, Iraqi army and the police are able to do the job without the help of the (Shiite) militias."
"The exclusion of the militias from the Anbar battle should be the first step taken by the government in order to restore trust with the people of Anbar."
Hamid al-Mutlaq, Sunni lawmaker, Baghdad

A member of the Iraqi security forces carries his weapon as he watches smoke rise from a scene of clashes between the Iraqi army and Islamic State militants in Tikrit  (Reuters)

Iraq performed a 180-degree turn when the minority Sunni population under the Baathist tyrant Saddam Hussein had the upper hand, with the Iraqi Shiite majority representing the persecuted portion of a geography riven by sectarian rivalries. Now, after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein under the pretense of bringing freedom and democracy to the country, with the departure of the American authority, the Shiite majority began its payback of disadvantaging the Sunni tribes that were the backbone of Saddam's dictatorship.

The world is witness to the implosion of Iraq into bitter enmity between the sects with each sending its death squad emissaries into their opposite enclaves in a bloody butchery that cemented hatred one for the other. Into that foetid swamp entered Islamist extremist jihadis seeing an opportunity to gain ground for themselves in a society that had surrendered itself to utter vile dysfunction. The country effectively divided into three sections; a workable and civil Kurdish enclave, and both an exclusively Sunni and Shiite third.

A country divided unto itself, into which entered not only al-Qaeda but its successor terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. The country that once was Iraq no longer exists. Now it is the Shiite-led government that must demonstrate to the alienated Sunni tribes that it is possible for Sunni and Shiite to live together, since divided and at a suspicious, demeaning distance of diminished engagement, total chaos ensued.

For self-protection and a restoration of some semblance of a united country -- although the Kurdish portion will never return to its former subjugated state -- there is only a reunited if grudging alliance to push back against al-Qaeda and Islamic State, or face their relentless geographic triumph of conquest in their caliphate. While the Sunni tribes, resentful of their neglect by the Shia government of Iraq initially welcomed Islamic State, most now view it as a threat.

The few Sunni tribes that refused to be dominated by ISIL suffered the consequences with mass graves speaking of the revenge of Islamic State against those who spurned its presence. Slaughtering men, women and children from those rejecting tribes represented Islamic State's strategy of issuing warnings to others who might seek to emulate their rejection.

But using Shiite militias known for their hatred of and brutality against Sunnis in freeing Tikrit from Islamic State, and letting them loose to exact revenge from among those whom they suspect welcomed Islamic State to Saddam's hometown, because the Shiite Iraqi regime's military is so weakly ineffectual, was not way to persuade the Sunni tribes that reconciliation is possible. Even so, a few Sunni battalions aided the Iraqi military in the battle for Tikrit.

The Shiite militias were prevailed upon to retreat, after initially having made their presence well known to the Sunni inhabitants of Tikrit. The Iranian backed militias are known to have committed atrocities as they freed Sunni-majority towns and cities from Islamic State possession. Driving Sunni families from their homes, kidnapping and executions have distinguished their presence as avenging militias whose exploits after the battlefield were the equal of Islamic State's.

It remains to be seen whether the new Iraqi government can be more trustworthy in sharing the country with its Sunni population than that of its predecessor. For the time being, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has called on security forces to put a stop to looting and vandalism in Tikrit, going so far as to promise that aid will be given to help residents return to their city.

A badly needed gesture at a time when plans to retake Mosul from Islamic State are commencing, with the success of the Tikrit rout of Islamic State.