Lt. Col. Stephen Russell eased himself into a cheap, plastic chair at the front of a small auditorium and greeted the sheikhs arrayed before him with an affable "Allah bikheir"... Russell, who commands the 1st battalion, 22nd regiment of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, believes his firm stance has played a major role in reducing attacks on his troops. But he also knows that forging ties with the sheikhs, who exert enormous influence on their tribesmen, is crucial. The most difficult part of establishing the weekly meetings, Russell said, was determining which of the city’s many tribal leaders to include in a permanent council. He answered the question by inviting all of Tikrit’s sheikhs to an open meeting, and then noting who got the seats up front.
Those respected men - about 10 of them - now meet with Russell weekly, bringing concerns and complaints from their tribes and receiving information about the occupation’s military and administrative actions. For the first few meetings, Russell sat in the largest leather chair on the dais in the auditorium. Now he sits on the same level as the sheikhs, a position he says better reflects the spirit of the diwan, the traditional Arabic tent where tribal elders meet to discuss matters as friends and equals. At Monday’s meeting, Russell’s regular translator was absent, so Tikrit’s mayor, Wali al-Ali, was drafted as a stand-in...
Several members of the council of sheikhs said Russell does not break promises, but does not always have the authority to act quickly. Nevertheless, the sheikhs said, they see Russell as their only line of communication to their occupiers. "He’s a great man. ... He’s better than the common American soldier, of course. He’s an educated man," said Sheikh Sami Sharif al-Nasari. "(But) he doesn’t have enough time to spend with the sheikhs."
Russell’s understanding of Arab history and culture comes from deep immersion in the subject. His library at home in Oklahoma boasts some 2,000 history books -- about 100 of which deal with the Middle East, including a rare first edition of T.E. Lawrence’s "Revolt in the Desert." Brig. Gen. Abdulla Hossein Mohammed, the Iraqi military affairs manager for the province, said Russell plays a crucial role just by coming to see the sheikhs. He pointed to the line of supplicants bearing scraps of paper and begging Russell to read them. "You see? Half an hour, just pieces of paper. ’I want my relative out,’ " he said. "He doesn’t promise they will get out, just that he will look. That is what we want." |