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U.S. reliance on Sunni leaders calms rebel haven — for now

Jul-17-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By Richard A. Oppel and Jr.

QABR ABED, Iraq — These days, this town in northern Iraq is relatively safe, at least compared to other Sunni Arab-dominated areas of Iraq. For a village that held folk status among Iraqis as one of the most sinister places in the country, that is quite a change.

As the insurgency gathered strength last year, Qabr Abed served as a weapons depot and safe haven for a large number of home-grown insurgent commanders, including Mohammed Shakara, the al-Qaida leader for northern Iraq and its biggest city, Mosul.

"It was for the insurgency what the Dominican Republic is to baseball," said Capt. Kevin Burke, who commands Company C of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Infantry Regiment, which oversees Qabr Abed.

Now, however, the village has a home-grown police force that maintains checkpoints and conducts patrols — a rarity in rural Sunni Arab areas, where the police often hunker down in their barracks or, worse, conspire with insurgents.

No U.S. soldiers have been killed or wounded here in five months. And members of Shakara's family fed information to U.S. forces that aided in his capture one month ago, according to U.S. commanders in Mosul.

If Qabr Abed can maintain its relative calm, which U.S. officers here say will require constant hand-holding, it would stand as a striking contrast to other Sunni Arab regions in Iraq where the insurgency remains undiminished. Just 15 miles north, in Mosul, insurgents routinely kill policemen and attack soldiers and civilians with mortars and car bombs. And in Tal Afar, 40 miles to the west, residents say insurgents effectively control many neighborhoods.[...]


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