$5.2m buys security and loyalty for today

Tikrit, Iraq: The stack of cash sat enticingly on the table beneath a beaded chandelier inside one of Saddam Hussain's marbled palaces: $15,000 (about Dh55,080) in red and green Iraqi notes.

Three tribal leaders inched closer as an American military commander explained how the bundle was theirs if they secured a 30-mile road through a lawless stretch of countryside.

Hoping to replicate a drop in violence in Al Anbar province, the US military has signed more than $5.2 million in contracts with local shaikhs to protect roads and other infrastructure in Saddam's home province of Salahuddin.

That cash has bought the loyalty of more than 2,700 men in a region where support for the executed dictator runs deep.

US commanders say the strategy is yielding dividends: In the first 90 days, the number of bombs that exploded or were found in the areas secured by the tribesmen dropped up to 60 per cent in some places.

But the aggressiveness with which such deals are being pursued here and in other Sunni parts of the country has stoked tension with the Shiite-led national government in Baghdad, which fears Sunni tribesmen will turn their guns on it once they have defeated their common enemy: Al Qaida in Iraq.

Disputes within families

If the Iraqi government does not pick up what are short-term arrangements between the Americans and the tribes, the consequences could be explosive.

Even among Sunnis in the province, many are suspicious of the paid alliances with the United States, which they say have caused disputes within families, emboldened local strongmen and triggered a backlash by the most extreme elements of the insurgency.

Attacks picked up again during Ramadan, which in recent years has been a time of increased insurgent violence, and many of the bombings and shootings targeted the United States' new tribal allies.

Before the tribes began working with the Americans, "Salahuddin was respected and there was security", said Shaikh Faisel Deham Draa, one of many leaders of the powerful Dulaimi tribe. "Since it was established, it has spread chaos."

He maintained that the Iraqi police and military were capable of maintaining security without the help of US-backed tribal fighters he dismissed as a "militia".

US commanders concede that Tikrit, with its educated, largely secular population, has never been fertile ground for extremist groups such as Al Qaida in Iraq. The dominant influence here is Saddam's Baath Party, which is ideologically opposed to religious fundamentalism.

But the commanders say violence surged this year around the refinery towns of Baiji and Samara, where the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in 2006 pushed parts of Iraq into a sectarian war. They blame the arrival of increased numbers of insurgents fleeing the US troop buildup in Baghdad, Al Anbar and Diyala provinces.

The tribal leaders initially tolerated Al Qaida in Iraq because both groups opposed the US occupation, but they quickly soured on the group's extreme version of Islam and brutal enforcement of Sharia law.

"They have turned religion upside down," said Shaikh Sabbah Shamari, a key US ally in Salahuddin. "The one who smokes gets killed. The one who doesn't pray gets killed. The one who drinks gets killed. The one who wears traditional Arab dress gets killed. And all these things are part of me and my personality."

"The objective of the tribes, the objective of the Iraqi security forces, the objective of the Americans is one: We fight insurgents," Shamari said.