U.S. Forces Rely on Local Informants in Ferreting Rebels in West Iraq

10 Dec. New York Times - U.S. Forces Rely on Local Informants in Ferreting Rebels in West Iraq.

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On the final day of a town-to-town military sweep in November along the Euphrates River, hundreds of men in Ar Rabit, a farming village, were rousted from their homes by American and Iraqi troops and shepherded into long rows on a harvested cornfield.

With the help of a group of locally recruited informants, most with their faces concealed by balaclavas and scarves, the troops pulled 12 suspected insurgents from the lineup, bound them in handcuffs and blindfolds, and took them away.

American military commanders have repeatedly hailed the contributions of the informant group, called the Desert Protectors, saying their help in recent weeks demonstrates the increasing willingness of local residents to cooperate in fighting guerrillas on Iraq's fiercely independent western fringe...

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