U.S. forges bond with Sunni sheiks

RAMADI, Iraq — Before tribal sheiks aligned themselves with U.S. forces in the violent deserts of western Iraq, the number of people willing to become police officers in the city of Ramadi -- the epicenter of the fight against the insurgent group known as al-Qaida in Iraq -- might not have filled a single police pickup.

But the U.S. military recruited more than 800 police officers in December and is on track to do the same this month. Officers credit the sheiks' cooperation for the diminishing violence in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province.

"I don't want to paint too rosy a picture, but if you compare this to what it was seven or eight months ago, there is not a place in this city that al-Qaida controls," said Lt. Col. James Lechner, deputy commander of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, in Ramadi.

But some Iraqi politicians and Anbar residents who oppose the U.S. presence describe the confederation of about 50 Sunni sheiks, known as the Awakening, as a divisive group that pits tribes against each other, uses police officers as armed guards to protect tribal territory and harnesses American support to consolidate its power.

Fasal al-Gaood, a tribal sheik and former Anbar governor who was seen as an ally of the Americans during his term in office, said the group has been given more authority than it deserves. Al-Gaood, who has survived several assassination attempts, said he was worried that insurgent infiltrators might lurk inside the rapidly growing police force.

Lechner conceded that "infiltration is undoubtedly an issue" but said the U.S. military relies on a computer database to check whether recruits have a history of known insurgent activity. They are also "vetted and vouched for by family members and tribal leaders," he said.

To some degree, the U.S. cooperation with the tribal sheiks is a relationship of last resort. The fighting in Anbar has been among the fiercest in the country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Of the more than 3,000 U.S. service members killed in Iraq, 875 died in the province, roughly the size of North Carolina. Dozens of schools and hospitals are closed, and basic services such as electricity and telephones are woefully inadequate.

This month, the confederation and U.S. officials held what they called the first Ramadi reconstruction conference in the compound of the leader of the Awakening, Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi.

The military says it has found a welcome ally in the tribal sheiks. U.S. commanders trace the formation of the Awakening to Aug. 21 last year, when Abu Ali Jassim, a sheik who had encouraged his kinsmen to join the provincial security forces, was killed by members of al-Qaida in Iraq. Instead of turning over the body to be buried, al-Qaida hid it in a field, violating Islamic tenets calling for a swift burial, said Maj. Thomas Shoffner, operations officer for the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division.

"As soon as they did that, the local tribesmen absolutely turned on al-Qaida," he said.

Military commanders say the newly determined sheiks encouraged kinsmen to join the police force in part because of a U.S. decision to allow the recruits to patrol their home territories.

Between July and December, the number of roadside bombings and incidents involving indirect fire, such as mortar attacks, dropped by about 50 percent in Ramadi, according to the U.S. military.

In some ways, the confederation is also a last resort for the sheiks, some of whom say they have not received adequate protection or services from the Shiite Muslim-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad.

Al-Maliki's aides say he supports the tribal organization, meets with its leaders and supports efforts to form a similar organization in Diyala province, another insurgent stronghold.

More than one observer questioned the motives of the Awakening's leader, Sattar of the Albu Risha tribe, a man reputed to have amassed a fortune as part of a criminal network that robbed travelers on the desert highways of Anbar.

One Iraqi political scientist in Baghdad, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he saw the confederation as an example of the widespread push in Iraq for greater regional control in areas such as the Shiite south and the Kurdish north, catalyzed by a weakened central government.

But aligning with the Americans can be dangerous in the heartland of the Sunni insurgency. As Lechner put it: "They've come out of the closet, so to speak. There's no going back now."