Sunni Fighters Find Strategic Benefits in Tentative Alliance With U.S.

Sitting cross-legged in the dim abandoned house, Abu Lwat said he seeks a new government in Iraq. "We don't want to be like the people who sit in the Green Zone and take orders from Bush," he said, referring to the American president. "We want to free people and fix their problems."

So, soon after U.S. and Iraqi forces moved into western Baqubah recently to conduct a large-scale offensive designed to flush out insurgents, Abu Lwat came to the area with about 40 fighters.

Within two weeks, 400 to 500 fighters were encamped in groups of about a dozen at about 30 or 40 safe houses in western Baqubah, with several more joining every day. The fighters are loosely organized around leaders such as Abu Lwat, who recruit them, U.S. military officials said.

U.S. troops say the armed locals have moved quickly to help find roadside bombs and prevent insurgents from returning to the neighborhood, especially from al-Qaeda in Iraq and an umbrella group it is said to have founded, the Islamic State of Iraq. The former insurgents "knew where the caches were, they knew all the names of the al-Qaeda leaders," said Capt. Zane Galvach, a platoon leader for the Army's 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

Until the recent U.S. offensive, the Islamic State had a strong grip on western Baqubah, lacing the area with dozens of deeply buried bombs and houses rigged to explode.

In a sign that the Islamic State feels threatened by the local rebellion, leaflets bearing its name were dropped one night in mid-July at an intersection in Baqubah. One flier found by U.S. soldiers chastised residents for their "alliance with the ill-directed groups such as the 1920 Revolution Brigade" and warned that they and their families "will all be murdered."

When U.S. soldiers stopped recently at a safe house at the edge of the Khatoon neighborhood, local fighter Khalid Mahmood Mohammed, 35, led them to two weapons caches. Then he pressed his visitors for ammunition and more freedom to conduct offensive operations.

Mohammed and his men described coming under fire nightly from al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters who bypass checkpoints and come through nearby fields.

"They attack us every day and night and we have to shoot back with our AK-47s, but we don't have enough ammo -- only 10 bullets each," Mohammed told Capt. Andy Moffit, whose platoon patrols the area. "We don't get a lot of support from you guys," he said, adding that some of his 40 fighters have recently grown fearful and quit. After joining Mohammed's men to search several houses, Moffit urged him to ask for reinforcements from other local fighter cells in the area.

"We're going to fight them with the ammo we have, and then they can kill us," Mohammed complained.

"When you run out of ammo, you pick up your knife," Moffit replied.

"They have PKC [machine guns] with 1,000 rounds," Mohammed said.

"You have to sneak up on them, brother," Moffit said.

Exasperated, Mohammed asked bluntly: "Will you give us ammo?"

"No," Moffit said, ejecting from his M-4 rifle a 5.56mm round, incompatible with the AK-47. "Do you want this?"

U.S. soldiers and commanders voiced wariness over the intentions of the former insurgents. "Some of them want to be reintegrated back in society, they want to push al-Qaeda out. Others want to be the next thug group that goes around and demands electricity payments. We're watching them closely," said Capt. Mike Edwards, an intelligence officer with the 3rd Brigade.

Overlooking western Baqubah from a small U.S. outpost set up in an abandoned house, Sgt. 1st Class Eric Beck said he is uneasy about cooperating with former insurgents, calling them "the best of two evils."

"I think they want control of the area," said Beck, of San Bernardino, Calif., whose platoon has spent the past year combating insurgents and Shiite militias in and around Baghdad. "How will the Iraqi army deal with them once we leave? Will they be able to control them like we are?" he asked. "They are good for a quick fix, but in the end, it could backfire."

The former insurgents also risk being killed mistakenly by U.S. troops; several accidental shootings have occurred already.

At his headquarters at Warhorse, a dusty military base in Baqubah, Col. Steve Townsend, the U.S. commander overseeing the city, met late last month with local Sunni armed groups to hammer out basic guidelines. "The whole purpose of the meeting was, if you follow these rules, we won't kill you," Townsend, commander of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, said afterward.

The fighters agreed on the name Baqubah Guardians and pledged to provide protection within their communities and register with the U.S. military by furnishing their names, fingerprints and other biometric data. The U.S. military is giving the fighters a uniform of a gray T-shirt imprinted with the Iraqi flag and a neon safety belt to be worn across the chest.

In return, the local fighters are to receive preferential status for employment with the Iraqi police or army, Townsend said. Baqubah is authorized to have nearly 6,000 policemen and hopes to gain approval for 3,000 more. But he estimated that the city has only 1,200 policemen available for duty, with 800 on the streets at any given time.

Beyond the day-to-day risks of dealing with the new groups of armed irregulars, U.S. troops must remain coolheaded in the company of men who not long ago tried to kill Americans.

"I assume they . . . have killed some of us," Townsend said. "We have killed a lot of them. If they are willing to move forward with us, I'm willing to keep an open mind."