Taking Back a Qaeda Stronghold

ARAB JABOUR, Iraq - A former stronghold of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, this rural and overwhelmingly Sunni area south of Baghdad on the west bank of the Tigris was once a country getaway for Saddam Hussein’s cronies. His sons Uday and Qusay had a weekend house here.

After the invasion in 2003, it became a virtual no-go zone for the Iraqi police and army, which faced a resentful and embittered population uniformly hostile both to the Americans and to any security forces loyal to the Shiite-led government that had replaced “their” regime.

Jihadists flourished here, American commanders say, manufacturing car bombs and sending them up the road for the short trip into the capital.

But last year, violence fell drastically. American commanders cite three main reasons: the United States troop surge, which provided the combat power to take on the insurgents, the decision to withdraw troops from large bases far outside Iraqi towns and put them closer to the population, and the decision by local Sunnis to follow the model of the Anbar Province tribal Awakening by turning against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and cooperating with the Americans to fight it.

It is a fertile area heavily dependent on agriculture, and the Americans have sought to restore irrigation projects, injected millions of dollars in microgrants and aid projects to revitalize the economy, and used “helicopter diplomacy” to bring Shiite government officials to talk to Sunni leaders.

The American military has also created and paid for armed tribal Awakening security patrols, which include many former Sunni insurgents, to guard their own neighborhoods. They were formerly known as Concerned Local Citizens here, but were recently rebranded Sons of Iraq.

However, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a homegrown Sunni insurgent group that American intelligence says is foreign led, continues to be a threat, especially in southern Arab Jabour. Hence the curious sight in recent weeks of members of the civilian patrols, in sandals and checkered head scarves, alongside heavily armed American troops as they helicoptered into villages where the extremists until recently had virtual free rein.

American officials say these locals know the area far better than they do, and can point to bombs, weapons caches and insurgent hide-outs.

But they are consistently warned by local Sunni leaders that unless jobs and government positions materialize soon, some of their people will drift back to the extremists.

“We have to be part of the government,” Mustafa Kamel, a local civilian guard leader, cautioned an American general.

“If we are not going to be part of the government, the terrorists will come back and the situation will get worse here.”