User:Bertus96/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Sons of Iraq

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I do believe that the information provided in this article is of great importance in order to better understand the current power relations that are playing out in this part of Iraq and because of the effects these power relations have had on neighbouring regions in Syria. Furthermore, the Anbar Awakening was one of the few counterinsurgency moves employed by the US army that successfully dealt a blow to the rise of terrorism. My overall impression of the article is that it is missing some important information, especially on how the movement came into being and its rise, and that, at some times, the information is somewhat one-sided (US and Iraqi government focus).

Evaluate the article
Here are some of my suggestions:


 * In my opinion, the lead of this article is too concise. This is also linked to the article's overall structure: in comparison to the attention that is paid to the movement's disbanding, there is very little information on how the movement came into being. Reasons of why tribal sheikhs decided to come together and collaborate with US forces are not mentioned except for one tribe (Albu Mahals) being pushed out of their territory by another tribe with links to AQI and the terrorism of AQI. Possible socio-economic motives and a changing stance of the US military are ignored. This harms a proper understanding of why and how the movement came to be.


 * The article contains no information on how it spread among other Sunni tribes in the Anbar province. Was it a large-scale movement, were only a few opportunistic tribes involved? And did these tribes cover extensive parts of the Anbar province or was there a specific geographical area within the Anbar province where the Sons of Iraq operated mostly?


 * Sources are missing under the subheading of Anbar Awakening. I do miss references in case of Sunni tribes working together with AQI to counter Shiite interests; AQI's terrorism prompting these same tribes to change their alliances; and most importantly, that the movement was "one of the shining symbols of counterinsurgency policy rhetoric".
 * I would argue for another title in line with 189.38.71.61 and Stiche's assertion that Anbar Awakening would better suit the content of the article since Sons of Iraq was only a part of the Anbar Awakening. The Anbar Awakening was a wider movement that existed for a longer period as described in this article.
 * Lastly, the disbanding of the Awakening Movement is very much focused on the policies of the government under Nouri al-Maliki. Although this is certainly a big part of the story, we should not forget that threats by other tribes and the rise of new terrorist groups, as well as the American troops' leaving of Iraq, benefitted to this disbanding. It was not a one-sided process, but also initiated on part of the tribes.