Word: iraqi
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...colonel had known this was coming. He is here to soothe some tensions that have broken out between the Shi'a-dominated Iraqi Army and the local, Sunni-dominated Sons of Iraq armed security organizations that the U.S. Army also supports. While the area has enjoyed a striking decline in overall violence over the past year, Colonel Rohling now spends an increasing amount of time managing the complex and fragile relationships that have made this peace possible - and making sure this detente does not unravel every time a partisan crime is committed...
...most recent crime the colonel is dealing with was particularly provocative. On May 14, a woman passed several Sons of Iraq checkpoints as she made her way to the front gate of an Iraqi Army patrol base. She asked to see the company's commander, Captain Wassim Abdul Hadi Saaud al-Sertani. She was a suicide bomber and when the commander arrived, she detonated her explosive vest and killed him and herself...
...Sons of Iraq members and hauling several into hours of custody. This, Haji Kaadam insisted to the American colonel, was an affront. "If there is an IED or an armed attack, that is our responsibility," he says. "But a lone woman? That is out of our hands. Yet the Iraqi Army came down here and began hitting our people, blaming them." Without ruling out that some Sons of Iraq individuals may have been involved, Colonel Rohling's intelligence officers and the Iraqi Army continue to investigate the woman's identity and motivation. He has no proof yet, but Rohling suspects...
Colonel Rohling has been circulating throughout the area ever since the bombing, talking to sheiks and Iraqi Army units, encouraging them not to let emotions escalate, making sure everyone is seeking answers, not vengeance. "This week has been about throwing a wet blanket on things, just trying to calm everyone down," says Major Bill Kuttler, the unit's operations officer. Today, Colonel Rohling has arrived with the wet blanket in full effect, telling Haji Kaadam that the soldiers reacted strongly because they loved their commander, but the Iraqi Army commander realizes "seeking justice does not involve trampling on the rights...
...long-term bilateral agreement that will spell out conditions for a U.S. presence in Iraq beyond next year, when the current U.N. mandate ends. A number of contentious issues, such as the presence of permanent U.S. military bases and the ability of U.S. forces to arrest and detain Iraqis, remain unresolved. Crocker, who did not meet with Sistani, was in Najaf to meet with local leaders but he addressed how the talks over the bilateral security agreement were shaping up. "We are in negotiations, and when that negotiation ends there will be an agreement," said Crocker, who spoke in Arabic...