NYT : Bomb Kills Sunni Sheik Working With U.S. in Iraq

Bomb Kills Sunni Sheik Working With U.S. in Iraq

By ALISSA J. RUBIN and GRAHAM BOWLEY | September 13, 2007

BAGHDAD, Sept. 13 — The leader of a group of local Sunni tribes cooperating with American and Iraqi forces in fighting extremist Sunni militants in Anbar Province was killed by a bomb today, Iraqi police officials said, in a blow to an effort President Bush has held up as a model of progress.

The Sunni leader, Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi, who met and shook hands with Mr. Bush during his visit to a military base in the province last week, led the Anbar Salvation Council, an alliance of clans supporting the Iraqi government and American forces. Initial reports suggested he was killed either by a bomb in his car or by a roadside bomb close to his car near his home in Ramadi in Anbar Province, the sprawling region west of Baghdad.

Sheik Abdul Sattar, 35, as he was known to Iraqis and American commanders, had become the public face of the Sunni tribes in lawless Anbar that turned against the Sunni jihadists of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and began to fight on the side of the Shiite-led Iraqi government and the American military.

The resulting increase in security in Anbar became one of the rare bright spots for the American military in Iraq. In the trip last week, Mr. Bush chose to stop in Anbar rather than Baghdad and forcefully directed attention at the security gains the growing alliance between American and tribal forces had brought. Sheik Abdul Sattar was among the tribal leaders who met with him on Sept. 3 at al-Asad Air Base in Anbar. The White House condemned the killing, saying the sheik’s actions exemplified “the courage and determination of the Iraqi people,” a spokeswoman, Katherine L. Starr, said in a statement.

“His death also reminds us that the struggle will require continued perseverance, and the Iraqis are increasingly turning away from Al Qaeda, as a result of such extreme acts of violence,” Ms. Starr said.

His was the latest and most prominent assassination of a tribal leader involved in the effort to fight Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni Arab extremist group that American intelligence agencies have concluded is led by foreigners. The extent of its links to Osama bin Laden’s network is not clear.

The assassination appeared timed to send a message to Sunni Arab tribesmen who work with the Americans and with the Shiite-led Iraqi government that they will suffer a similar fate if they oppose the extremists. At the moment, the American military is pushing similar efforts in other provinces to turn Sunni Arab tribes against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

The assassination seemed squarely aimed at undercutting the American government’s effort this week to spotlight the gains in Anbar. President Bush had been expected to mention the Anbar tribes and the drop in violence in the province in his speech tonight.

"The attack’s timing was critical, it came now to try to undermine the report of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker," said Sadiq al-Rikabi, the political adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

"They’ve done this to break the relative tranquility and stability which has been achieved recently in Anbar. He was a symbol, he was a representative to the society of what can be achieved."

Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia had not claimed responsibility late Thursday, but security officials in Iraq appeared convinced that the extremist group was responsible. The killing could be a significant setback for American efforts to work more closely with local tribes against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Recently the council had begun to reach out to other tribes to bring them into closer cooperation with the American and Iraqi government, and had met recently with southern Shiite leaders.

The authorities imposed a state of emergency in Anbar Province after his assassination, police officials said. At least one other person escorting him was also killed in the explosion.

“This action makes a crack and makes it a mess for all those who wanted to be aligned with him,” said Salim al-Jubouri, a spokesman for the largest Sunni Arab block in the Iraqi Parliament. “I believe there are other leaders who will take this on, but this is not easy.”

Just last year some senior military officers had all but given up on bringing security to Anbar. But since then, the Sunni sheiks banded together to fight militants loyal to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and supply young men to the police, an effort that brought a significant turnabout and has allowed the American military to claim some success. With many of the Sunni sheiks calling on their followers to join the Iraqi Army and the police, and declaring the Qaeda group a common enemy of Iraqi Sunnis, levels of violence across much of Anbar dropped sharply, especially in the capital, Ramadi, and in towns along the Euphrates.

American commanders have acknowledged that the strategy was fraught with risk since some of the Sunni groups have been suspected of involvement in past attacks on American troops or of having links to such groups.

Some of the groups, American commanders say, have been provided with arms, ammunition, cash, fuel and supplies, usually through Iraqi military units allied with the Americans.

American officers who have engaged in what they call outreach to the Sunni groups have said that many of them had past links to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia but had grown disillusioned with the Islamic militants’ extremist tactics, particularly suicide bombings that have killed thousands of civilians.

In exchange for American support, these officials say, the Sunni groups agreed to fight Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and halt attacks on American units. But critics of the strategy, including some American officers, have said it could amount to the Americans’ arming both sides in a future civil war.

But the close association with the American military has come at a cost to the tribal leaders. In May, masked gunmen in the volatile city of Falluja assassinated a prominent Sunni tribal leader, Allawi al-Issawi, who had joined the opposition to the terrorist groups linked to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Less than three hours later, as mourners gathered for a funeral procession outside his home, a suicide bomber drove into the crowd, killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens of others.

In June, a suicide bomber assassinated four Sunni sheiks who were cooperating with Americans in Anbar Province, detonating an explosive belt as they gathered inside a large Baghdad hotel.

In July, a suicide truck bombing north of Baghdad was again apparently aimed at a meeting of Sunni tribal sheiks who had recently agreed to oppose extremists allied with Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Five people were killed in that attack and 12 wounded, Interior Ministry officials said. It was unclear whether any sheiks were victims.