Anbar sheiks want share in spoils of peace

With no provincial elections in sight, the Islamic Party agreed over the summer to make room on the Anbar provincial council for nine sheiks. Maliki has also floated the idea of appointing sheiks to fill some of the vacancies in his Cabinet after the Iraqi Accordance Front, the Sunni political alliance that includes the Islamic Party, walked out in August after accusing him of refusing to share power. But the Islamic Party has warned that he could face difficulties getting the nominations approved by parliament.

Analysts say the Sunni political parties, which until recently had been the United States' main Sunni negotiating partners, never have commanded the popular support of some of their Shiite rivals.

"I think we wasted a lot of time talking to the wrong Sunnis," said Vali Nasr, an international politics professor and Iraq expert at Tufts University. "Ultimately these ones are not the ones who are in charge of the insurgency."

The tribal Awakening Conference has shown that it can deliver, at least in Anbar.

Life is returning to Ramadi, a city of 400,000 about 60 miles west of Baghdad. Painters are sprucing up facades on streets still marred by demolished buildings. Children in crisp blue and white uniforms pour out of school. A white-gloved policeman directs traffic near the refurbished governance center, once the scene of heavy combat.

Shiite leaders have taken note, and there has been a flurry of meetings, aided by what the U.S. military refers to as its "helicopter diplomacy." When the Sunni sheiks asked for a meeting with Ahmad Chalabi, Maliki's new point man for restoring services, it took just two days for him to arrive in a convoy bristling with gunmen, accompanied by a large entourage of Shiite sheiks, aides and journalists.

At the meeting, the Sunni sheiks accused the provincial council of issuing reconstruction contracts to companies affiliated with its members and of handing out Islamic Party membership forms with job applications.

In November, Abu Risha pulled his nine followers off the provincial council, but later agreed to join a new advisory panel. He is now urging ministers in Baghdad to set up a committee to take charge of reconstruction in the province.

Vice President Hashimi said the claims of wrongdoing were baseless, but that he had ordered an investigation. Others in the party say it is too soon to expect results from a reconstruction process that began only six months ago.

"They need to be patient," Samarrai said.

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alexandra.zavis@latimes.com

Times staff writer Tina Susman in Baghdad and a special correspondent in Ramadi contributed to this report.