Word: tribalized
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...hardest thing for a Marine to do." One cultural lesson the Marines have learned is that what appears to American eyes to be corruption - bribes paid, money skimmed off the top of construction projects - is simply standard operating procedure in an area dominated by family connections and tribal networks. "People get it wrapped around the axle because these guys aren't exactly Jack Webb types: 'Just the facts,'" said Gové. "They may be taking something on the side." But the goal is to create functioning security forces that are accepted by residents here, not to create a force that...
...security forces take the lead. In Baghdad and other centers of sectarian violence, where the security forces are riddled with militiamen and where Shi'ites patrol hostile Sunni neighborhoods, that hope is more like a fantasy. But in al Qaim, foreign jihadists not too long ago antagonized local Sunni tribal leaders; and now the Americans have used that local history to win cooperation from the same maligned tribes, recruiting personnel for the Iraqi army and police. "It's in our best interest to train them and trust them," Vistek says. "We've got their back whether they know...
...rejected by L. Paul Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority on the grounds that "tribes are part of the past. They have no place in the new democratic Iraq." The damage caused by that myopic stupidity may never be repaired: it gave al-Qaeda a base in the Sunni tribal areas, which enabled the sustained, spectacular anti-Shi'ite bombing campaign, which, along with the Sunnis' historic disdain for the Shi'ite majority, created the conditions for the current civil war. "Just because the Sunni tribesmen have joined with us in Anbar doesn't mean they like the Baghdad government...
...area evacuated by Israel in 2005 is well on its way to becoming a kind of seaside Falluja, a safe haven and training ground for extremists of all kinds. Aid workers recently returned from Gaza describe a city breaking down into tribal and gang formations, much like Iraq. The fact that these groups can act with impunity is clear in the ongoing captivity of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who was kidnapped in March, and has been held despite the fact that his release has been demanded by the top leadership of both Fatah and Hamas. Last week, Palestinian President Mahmhoud...
...Polk is proud of what he has managed to accomplish during his time in Naray. It's a feeling that comes out in his e-mails home, and the way he talks about the tribal elders he has befriended. He's looking forward to the day that he can see a resident of Naray use a mobile phone, turn on a light or drive a paved road to the next district - all projects he and his colleagues initiated during their time here. But those achievements will not be the measure of his success. "We've done a lot of great...