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U.S. Relies on Local Leaders in Rural Iraq

Aug- 1-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer

QAYYARAH, Iraq (AP) - Last fall, insurgents overran police stations and Iraqi army bases in this northern rural region, scaring off nearly all 2,000 Iraqi troops and keeping people locked inside their homes at night.

Last month only two attacks took place in this Rhode Island-sized area mostly populated by Sunni Arabs and Kurds, according to U.S. commanders in the area.

The difference, they say, stems from a new approach of relying on sheiks and mukhtars - the tribal and local leaders who wield enormous influence among some 75,000 people in hundreds of villages and small towns south of the city of Mosul.

``Sheiks are the real power here,'' said Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment. ``Mayors just aren't as good as sheiks on security matters.''

Becker says he now meets with 50 to 100 sheiks a week, and holds monthly confabs with them in a base auditorium that usually shows movies for relaxing soldiers. Sheiks and mukhtars, most in white robes, some walking gingerly with canes, flow into the room and listen to U.S. and Iraqi officials talking about security as well as local issues such as electricity supply.

About six people showed up for the first meeting early this year - but the latest, on Tuesday, drew about 300. Much of it took a townhall tone, hearing complaints about gasoline shortages and inquiries about arrested fellow tribesmen.

``After November, what happened was bad, but they came to us,'' said Sheik Nief Saleh said of the Americans. ``I try to help as I can.''

In return for the sheiks' help, Becker says he has spent close to $1 million on reconstruction jobs employing hundreds of tribesmen.


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