No sooner had Munder passed out cigarettes and served few trays of chai tea then the lights went out. For a few minutes, the room was so dark that the only discernable objects were the cherries of five lit cigarettes moving up and down, gesturing to the invisible conversation. Power failures are so common that the sheik just kept talking; mostly about the dark days just a few months ago when al Qaeda ran the area, of the family members killed, how his sons had to drop out of school. He joked that he was thinking of renaming his tribe “The Rejected,” since that’s what al Qaeda used to call Shia.

Once the lights flicked back on, the food came out—platters of chicken, fish, rice, cucumber, tomato, and hot peppers, with stacks of flatbread. In typical gracious Arab fashion, Munder insisted that Helberg’s jundi (soldiers) come in a few at a time to share the meal.

But there was also business to discuss. The sheik complained about the shoddy nature of the local bridges. Helberg told him that he was having some engineers come up to check them out, and also to scout locations for a new road through the area. When the talk turned to infrastructure improvements, Helberg made sure to mention that he wanted the Iraqis to start going though the government to address their concerns, and not come to him with all their complaints. With the American military pushed out into the neighborhoods, American officers have become the go-to guys for everything that needs doing. Need power? Ask the Americans. Have complaints about the water quality? Tell the Americans. Want something built or repaired? The Americans. While this either means that the Americans are seen as the honest broker in the area or just have the deepest pockets, it overwhelms company commanders who need to funnel these requests up the chain of the Iraqi government, which requires dozens of signatures from technocrats all the way up the food chain for anything to get done. And in the weeks it takes to do this, the commanders are constantly pestered. The plan, now that security has been increased, is to get the Iraqis to start seeing the government as an institution that they can utilize for themselves, and stop using the Americans as the first point of contact. At this point, the idea doesn’t seem to be taking so well, so wide is the chasm between the locals and the national government.

One of the topics of discussion was a little local drama that had unfolded the morning before. Helberg had called a meeting of all the local Sunni and Shia sheiks to air their concerns, but some maneuvering by the Iraq Army’s Muthana Brigade, stationed nearby, threw a wrench into the plans. (The fierce Muthana Brigade is comprised of mostly Shia soldiers, and the residents of this area are mostly Sunni, who don’t trust the Shia-dominated Iraqi government or their Shia-majority Army.) The morning of the meeting, the commander of the brigade, General Nasser, held a rally to celebrate and publicize the fact that elements of the brigade had taken over a few checkpoints in the area. Many Shia happily attended, and there was a big show for the television cameras.

Having heard about the rally beforehand, the Sunni sheiks protested by staying home from the meeting, thinking that they were showing their displeasure with the Shia sheiks. Helberg was infuriated by the Sunni refusal to show, and refused to meet with the leaders of only one sect. It was no small problem, and one Helberg would seek to rectify the next day at a highly contentious meeting with Colonel Ehssan, the Sunni leader of the Sons of Iraq in the area, and some local Sunni sheiks. But for tonight, it was cigarettes, chai and plenty of food. Nothing of importance was decided, but some fragile bonds were established between the newly arrived American unit and a local who wields some clout. The walk home was cold and, save for the barking of dogs, quiet.

This is Part Five in an ongoing series.

Part One, “Up Close With the Counterinsurgency,” is here.

Part Two, “Meet the Sons of Iraq,”is here.

Part Three, “Fact From Fiction,” is here.

Part Four, “Dances With Strongmenm,” is here.

Part Five, “The Rejected,” is here.

Part Six, “Men With Guns,” is here.

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