Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham's (ISIS) systematic massacre of hundreds of Iraq's Albu Nimr tribe should have been an unmistakable wake up call for a country that may not be able to stabilize without long-term support from Sunni tribesmen. But nearly a month after members of the tribe were hunted down in groups and executed, the Baghdad government appears to be doing little to assimilate Sunnis in any much-needed move towards unity. The Albu Nimr were one of the Sunni tribes that helped the U.S. Marines defeat al Qaeda in Iraq's vast Western Anbar province during the 2006-2007 "surge" offensive, a strategy Washington hopes Iraq can now repeat against ISIS. Iraq's robust official spin machine has certainly suggested the Shi'ite-led government and even its militia allies who have few friends among the Sunni tribesmen, are swinging into action.But there are few real signs of momentum needed to bury sectarian differences and create a united force to counter ISIS in Anbar, which it has engulfed steadily throughout 2014 to the point where senior U.S. military officials last month described the situation there as fraught. Sabah Karhoot, provincial council chief of Anbar, home to the Albu Nimr, told Reuters there were still enough fighters to take on Islamic State but they needed effective weapons and ammunition from Baghdad. "If the government can't give us the military support soon, we will resort to other options including the demand of the ground help from the international coalition," he said.The strategic Iraqi airbase Ain al-Asad is currently encircled by ISIS. An Albu Nimr leader told Reuters that about 3,000 fighters were primed and ready to join up with Iraqi forces at the Ain al-Asad base, but security forces would only allow about 100 Albu Nimr members of them to gather there. "I suggested to the Iraqi forces that they should arm 500 at the minimum and after mutual trust is formed we can advance to higher numbers," said Sheikh Naeem al-Ga'aud - adding his attempt to compromise was to no avail and those few tribesmen allowed onto the base were given no ammunition. That mistrust goes both ways: About two weeks before Dempsey arrived, word spread that Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia fighters were gearing up to help the Albu Nimr. But Anbar council chief Karhoot likened the Shiite militants to ISIS militants and said he would not work with them. "We absolutely refuse the militias in Anbar. We need people from the south, center and north as forces within the army and police," Karhoot said. Later he said he would welcome them.The Kurds also want arms from Baghdad to fight ISIS but the issue has become embroiled in political tensions over Baghdad's payments for Kurdish oil exports. "It's their duty to send us weapons because we are part of Iraq. We are defending the region as part of the country," said Jabbar Yawar, Secretary-General of the Kurdish ministry responsible for the fighters known as peshmerga - meaning "those who confront death" - who recently crossed the Turkish border to help defend the Syrian town of Kobani from ISIS.