Word: tribalisms
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...These are Iraqi security forces, so you don't want to undercut their ability to secure," Owens said. "What we don't want to do is go back to where the tribal piece here overrules the governance, because then we'll step back in time...
...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...
...think the tribal piece is a short-term fix," says Owens. "It's more important to develop the governmental pieces and the ties between the central government and the provincial...
...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...
...government that's functional. You don't want to have tribes fighting without the sanction of the government." Owens estimates that there are over 12,000 Iraqi police foot soldiers at work against insurgents in Salahuddin, which is home to the volatile city of Samarra. U.S. forces have encouraged tribal leaders to enlist their followers in existing security force. Short of that, tribes should stay out of the fight, as far as Owens is concerned...