In the meantime, U.S. forces in Diyala are looking past the Iraqi police and army for help driving Al Qaeda from the province. Dozens of militia members have been outfitted by American troops with brown T-shirts spray-painted with numbers and will soon be provided with cards identifying them as members of "the Concerned Local Nationals."
The gunmen are allowed large caches of AK-47s and ammunition, and they are promised eventual positions in the Baqubah police force.
Risky strategy
George said the group included members of the 1920 Revolution Brigade and other fighters who have engaged in violent battles with Americans, but he said no one on a "high-value target" list would be able to evade American capture.
"Since we came here, the No. 1 priority has been to drive a wedge between insurgents and terrorists, and this is one of the only ways to do that," George said.
He acknowledged that aligning with fighters whose long-term agenda remained unclear was risky, but said it was part of a countrywide strategy to jump-start efforts against the insurgency.
On a recent day, Capt. Marc Austin led a squad of soldiers from their command outpost in an abandoned women's college to visit the new partners.
Along the way, Austin passed homes demolished by Apache helicopter fire after insurgents used the dwellings to set off bombs that killed members of his company. Main thoroughfares were impassable because of bomb craters. On one narrow street, Austin's men had been ambushed by snipers on rooftops.
"On each of these streets, I've lost guys," Austin said.
Finally, at an intersection where three of his men died in a Bradley fighting vehicle when it was struck by a makeshift bomb, the soldiers entered a courtyard to find dozens of men wearing the brown T-shirts.
The men said they knew where to find two newly planted improvised explosive devices in the road and agreed to dig them up for the Americans, who then detonated the devices, causing windows to crack. One of the devices blew a 6-foot-deep crater.
"Thank God we found that. It would have destroyed basically any vehicle we have," 1st Lt. Sean McCaffrey said.
Rifle turns up
But relations soured when the Americans found a sniper rifle in the home that was not covered by their agreement. When Austin insisted on seizing the weapon, some of the men's eyes began to well with tears and the leader of the group, who identified himself as Haidr, said, "We are trying to help you, but you are not trying to help us."
