Word: sunnis
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...Bryan Owens, the commander of U.S. forces in Salahuddin province, isn't hoping for the kind of tribal "awakening" seen in neighboring Anbar. In the desert reaches to the north of Owens' command, a number of tribal leaders have gathered themselves and their followers under the banner of Sunni chieftain Sheik Abdul Sittar, who has vowed to work with U.S. forces at crushing insurgents associated with al-Qaeda. The pact has brought some significant successes. The daily average of insurgent attacks in Anbar province has dropped by almost 50% in roughly a year, coming down to about...
...each province is different in terms of its mix of tribalism and sectarianism. In predominately Shi'ite southern Iraq, tribal authority is weak these days. Militia leaders like Moqtada al-Sadr and religious figures such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani hold sway over sheiks. Diyala province is largely Sunni, like Anbar and Salahuddin, but not nearly as homogenous as those two western areas. And Baghdad, despite ferocious sectarian cleansing campaigns on both sides, remains a stronghold for both camps...
...strategy has potential pitfalls that have kept military commanders like Owens and some policymakers leery. Sheik Sittar, the Sunni Chieftain, has vowed to work with the central government in Baghdad led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite partisan. But so far no meaningful cooperation between the two has emerged. And some fear that today's tribal alliances will become tomorrow's Sunni militias, bands of experienced and well-equipped fighters ready to attack Iraq's Shi'ite factions in a clash that could leave the country in open civil...
...could work in Baghdad if the Americans empower them equally," said Edham Fayadh al-A'amiree, the leader of a large tribe in the Baghdad area with both Sunni and Shi'ite followers. But he offers a warning to U.S. strategists dabbling in tribal politics: "They should be very careful and think of what the future will be like after they...
...strongman Moqtada al-Sadr pulled its ministers from Maliki's cabinet in protest of the Prime Minister's reluctance to set a timetable for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. (The head offices in key ministries such as health, education and transportation are still empty.) Then, two weeks ago, four Sunni ministers began boycotting al-Maliki's cabinet meetings to protest an arrest warrant issued for a fellow Sunni minister...