In Diyala, U.S. aligns with tribal leaders - USATODAY, 8 June.

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 revenue 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 ..."