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In Diyala, U.S. aligns with tribal leaders

U.S. military officials say they are making progress in negotiating with tribal leaders in a turbulent region north of Baghdad, using a formula that helped reduce violence in western Iraq.

“Within the last three or four months, we’ve seen a much greater interest in tribal reconciliation, and we’ve seen a shift in tribal attitudes,” Maj. Tim Brooks, a staff officer for the Army brigade based in Diyala province, said in a telephone interview from Iraq.

The efforts to form alliances with tribes highlights a new emphasis on local initiatives aimed at political reconciliation. Iraq’s central government has been slow to take steps aimed at ending sectarian divisions. Iraq’s parliament has yet to pass laws on the distribution of oil revenues and other issues that have divided the country on sectarian lines.

“One of the concerns that I’ve had ... was whether we had focused too much on central government construction in both Iraq and Afghanistan and not enough on the cultural and historical, provincial, tribal and other entities that have played an important role” in both countries, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said recently.

Iraq’s central government has struggled to provide services and money to the provinces, said Army Col. Mike Everett, the political division chief of the U.S. command in Baghdad. “The greatest challenge in this country is how do you make national government effective.”

By contrast, local initiatives have had a better record of success. “There is great effort at both levels,” Everett said. “Arguably, we’re probably making more progress at the local level.”

U.S. commanders have been working with tribal leaders in Diyala for years, but the stakes have risen as the province has grown more violent.

U.S. troop deaths in Diyala have increased since the beginning of the year, according to records kept by the Pentagon and icasualties.org, an independent group monitoring war deaths. In May, 126 U.S. troops died in Iraq, including 21 in Diyala, according to the Pentagon. That made Diyala second only to Baghdad in deaths last month, according to icasualties.org.

The violence in Diyala is partly due to U.S. forces entering insurgent strongholds where American troops had not had a significant presence, said Lt. Col. Morris Goins, a battalion commander in Baqubah. Militants are also getting squeezed out of the capital because of increased operations there.

Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 ranking U.S. officer in Iraq, said more troops have been shifted to Diyala province to counter the threat.

Anbar province, once among the most violent regions in Iraq, is held up as an example of how local politics can reduce violence.

“A year ago we were about to write off Anbar province,” Everett said. “We have turned it completely around.”

A key part of the turnaround was an effort to work with tribal leaders. A growing number of the leaders, sometimes called sheiks, have joined with U.S. forces and turned against al-Qaida militants. The average weekly attacks in Anbar province dropped from about 250 last year to about 100 last month, according to the U.S. military. This year 12,000 Iraqis volunteered for Iraqi security forces in Anbar, up from 1,000 in 2006, Odierno said.

“Anbar could be a microcosm of what could happen in the rest of country if the right elements come into play,” said Army Col. Ralph Baker, a former brigade commander who served two tours in Iraq and now serves at the Pentagon.

Goins said he has used the example of Anbar when meeting with tribal leaders. He said he has met regularly with them since arriving in Iraq last fall.

Diyala differs significantly from Anbar. Anbar is almost entirely Sunni Muslim and heavily influenced by tribal leaders. Diyala is split between Sunnis and Shiites and has 25 major tribes and more than 100 minor groups or offshoots. “The melting pot of tribes in Diyala makes it problematic,” Goins said in a telephone interview from Iraq.

No one solution works for all regions in Iraq, U.S. officers say. “You can’t deal with each of these localities with a cookie-cutter mentality,” said Marine Col. Herman Clardy, who commands a regiment responsible for western Anbar.

“Everywhere is different,” he said.