A TOUGH ROAD

The Christian Science Monitor has an article about our new buddies, the Sunni sheiks and noted that their allegiance to the U.S. and in particular the Iraqi central government may be weak.

Will 'armloads' of US cash buy tribal loyalty?
The US policy of paying Sunni Arab sheikhs for their allegiance could be risky.
By Sam Dagher
Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the November 8, 2007 edition

But the strategy is fraught with risks, including the serious potential for wars among the tribes themselves and the creation of militias in die-hard Sunni Arab lands where many continue to question the legitimacy and authority of the Shiite-led central government in Baghdad.

"It depends on the quality of the tribal leaders. Some lack connections, resources, and credibility," says Faleh Jabar, director of the Beirut-based Iraqi Institute for Strategic Studies. "If the Americans do not understand that then they will always be in trouble."

On the ground in Salahaddin, a province of 1.3 million of whom nearly 90 percent at one point were once Baathists, attitudes toward the new order and the shifting alliances are complex.

For example, Hassani's archenemy, deputy governor Abdullah Jabara, who was a senior Baathist and hails from the rival Jubour tribe, tried to have the sheikh arrested last month.

The article goes on to mention two Sunnis sheiks who share last name: Obeidi.

Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Obeidi, one of the chiefs of the Obeid whose fiefdom is in the plains of nearby Kirkuk and extends to Salahaddin, says the US push for these awakening councils is "a recipe for endless blood feuds" among tribes.

He says a commander of US forces in Kirkuk arrested his son and two nephews "on false charges" in September because he refused to form an awakening council. Meanwhile, many members of his tribe continue to oppose the presence of US forces in Iraq but still advocate joining the Iraqi police and Army.

"This is unspeakable fitna [discord] being sowed by the Americans," says Mr. Obeidi. "They want you to kill your own cousin and brother."

[SNIP]

Four sheikhs arrived. They asked that their chief, Fanar Mubarak al-Farhan al-Obeidi, be released from jail. He is head of the tribe's Albu-Issa clan and was arrested in the Oct. 30 operation. The brother of one of the visiting sheikhs was a known member of Al Qaeda who was recently killed by US troops.

Today I learned from the AP ("US Releases 9 Iranians in Iraq" By LAUREN FRAYER) that another Obeidi sheik was killed by a suicide bomber:

At least 20 people were killed or found dead across the country Friday, police and morgue officials said.

Among them was a Sunni tribal leader, Fayez al-Obeidi, who had partnered with U.S. and Iraqi security forces to oust al-Qaida in Iraq from his neighborhood near Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

An attacker first cut the electricity to al-Obeidi's house, then pushed his way through guards at the door and triggered a suicide blast inside, police said. The sheik and three of his relatives were killed, according to police and relatives.