Holding the peace

(Lt. Demotts asks if anyone is around the police station. It's 5:30 am.)

Al Zour- The Wild West, maybe the sleepy side. That’s what the soldiers of Bravo Battery of the 2/320th Field Artillery Regiment said of this farming town. When they first arrived here, they witnessed a gunfight between two families shooting from their own houses.

“They usual fight over water, or woman,” another soldier added.

Now the town is pretty much, “on lock down,” said Lt. Bryan Demotts, who credits the security to Sheik Allawi a well-respected figure in these parts, who has nine sons and claims to have been one of Saddam’s bodyguards.

An early morning haze still enveloped the town when the Bravo convoy cruised to a stop beside the Sons of Iraq checkpoint at an intersection of two dirt roads. One man was standing in the road. The other three were still nestled under blankets on the rooftop.

One of the bigger Bravo sergeants climbed a ladder to shake them awake. The Iraqis stood up sheepishly and tried to smile.

One of the SOI at the checkpoint, Hamed Taaha, said he’s a farmer who’s been on the payroll for one year. “It’s better,” he said than farming, “You earn more money. As long as the Americans are here, we’ll be here.”

Of course Hamed is concerned his contract might soon be ending. But the Sheik told them that if they lost their jobs as SOI they could become security guards. Not exactly the same as an Iraqi Police or Army job, but then many of these men would probably not meet the physical and education requirements.

“If you don’t have a job, it’s hard to live. Just being a farmer is not enough,” said Hamed whose married with three kids and owns a house.

“They started cutting our paycheck,” he claims he used to get $450 a month. that’s been cut to $300.

Some men were blaming the Sheik for taking more money until the U.S. soldiers admitted to them that their SOI contracts were closing one by one.

Another SOI at the checkpoint in Al Zour, Kasan Mohammed, said before the SOI the Iraqi Police held the checkpoint, “but they were working for both sides,” he said.

Kasan said if they close the checkpoint he will have to move because he’ll feel threatened. More likely he’ll move to find a job.

Some say the SOI will start planting improvised bombs in the roads that they're supposed to be guarding to protect their jobs, but there's little evidence of that so far.

In town, kids are walking to school, a man is slaughtering a goat. The small shops that all seem to sell the same combination of cigarettes, fresh vegetables and kitchen supplies are opening.

One small business owner said that business is getting better because he can now stay open at night. “The checkpoint helped security for business and for customers,” he said.

Another owner of a similar convenience store said, he needs more money to develop his business. Lt. Demotts said Bravo has given out some micro-grants, designating stores that need them most and those that sell different kinds of goods. It didn’t look like this man’s business qualified.

One of the school boys waiting outside the gates, his books in a rubber strap, said his favorite subject was history. When asked about the recent history of Iraq, "history now is not good," the boy said.

(You can just feel some kids are going to make it no matter what.)

A furniture maker said there are now more people with money, so more people buy furniture. He said police, army, SOI have helped the town's economy. He has five employees.
(This woodworker makes custom-made furniture.)

Local leaders like Sheik Allawi are invested in keeping the peace. The Sheik stood at the end of the city council meeting in Yethrib, a nearby town under Bravo's control, and tore into his lesser sheiks and council members should any mortars launched at Joint Base Balad come from their area. “Anyone who shoots mortars at the base, bring them to me,” Allawi shouted, pounding his fist. “If they shoot from your area, you're responsible.” (The Sheik presiding.)

There had been over 15 days without an indirect fire on the base, according to soliders. But you get a sense the Sheik has a pretty sweet deal going with the Americans, and he doesn't want any fools bearing their own greivances messing it up.

Captain Rob Pratt, of West Virginia, commander of Bravo Battery said that the Sheik has taken them places to “get people”. “I’ve seen shots fired at his checkpoint, with his own sons there, and the Sheik will say ok, let’s go get them.”

When asked about some sheiks who use U.S. forces to resolve their own tribal issues, Pratt responded,“You’ll get some that cry wolf, for some it’s a tribal issue. More than half of the Battery is on their second deployment. You start to pick the bull shitters from the not. You start asking where’s the information coming from? It’s kind of intuition.”

“I think we’ve been successful at relationship building,” Pratt said, who was in Anbar province during his last tour. He says he's careful, “not to promise more than I can produce. If I say I’m going to do it, I’ll follow through. It gains their respect.”
(Sheik Allawi and Capt. Pratt conversing after a Yethrib city council meeting.)

Pratt hopes the next unit replacing Bravo Battery will maintain the key relationships and continue the Iraqi business initiatives they’ve help start. “You build trust, and people won’t hurt us if they have a job.”

In the absence of a full-on fight, it seems the soldiers respond the most to working directly in the community. On delivering school supplies to the Yethrib school,
“That was my best day here,” Staff Sergeant Shaw said.