Word: ramadier
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Marine Maj. Megan McClung could tell something was wrong when I appeared in her office at Camp Ramadi early in December. For starters, I looked terrible after a sleepless night that began with a freezing helicopter ride from Baghdad. And I couldn't hide the fear gnawing at me about my time ahead in Anbar Province, where U.S. forces suffer the highest casualty rates in Iraq. Indeed, I saw my first dead U.S. serviceman as I touched down in Ramadi, a shapeless form in a black body bag waiting in the dark to leave on one the Chinook helicopters that...
...form an alliance of nationalist insurgents that would exclude al-Qaeda, which had become extremely radical in its ideology and violent in its tactics. Attacking U.S. troops was fine, as far as Sittar and others were concerned at the time. But they felt that establishing a puritanical caliphate in Ramadi, as some in al-Qaeda hope to do, shouldn't be part of the insurgency's agenda. In the end, however, the move fizzled and the nationalists and al-Qaeda remain allies in the insurgency. Sittar then abandoned it and said he then began to consider working with American troops...
...region. In person, Sittar is personable, even likeable. A compact man, he sits erect and chops his hands in the air as he speaks. Welcoming all manner of guests, he'll hold court for hours in his house, which sits right outside the main U.S. base in Ramadi. Sittar makes sure his visitors are never without tea or a cigarette as he holds forth, talking about everything from guns to Isaac Newton. In a litany of the good and bad contributions of Western civilization, Sittar cites the English scientist ("smart" but "lazy") as one of the positive contributors; Hitler...
...Sittar paints his transformation into a U.S. supporter in Iraq as an epiphany flowing from the realization that al-Qaeda was an evil force destroying life for him and others in Ramadi. The tribal leaders who've gathered under his banner, about 40 in all, echo the sentiment, which seems sincere enough even if other motives have factored into their decision to take up the cause now, three years into the insurgency. The U.S. is simply glad that the enemy of its enemy is now a friend. MacFarland acknowledges that the reasons Sittar and other tribal leaders have for cooperating...
...Some early signs of success in the slightly improved situation in Ramadi offer hope that the arrangement will continue to work for the foreseeable future. Sittar says the tribes would never turn against Americans, and he stresses again and again his commitment to building up the Iraqi government and deferring authority, eventually, to it. MacFarland puts much faith in Sittar and takes him at his word. But MacFarland also realizes how abruptly tribal politics can change directions, turning allies into enemies. "Tribes are like countries," he says. "They don't have friends, they have interests. Right now we're both...