Military Review English Edition March-April 2015 | Page 110

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Erin Kirk)

Ali Hatem Abd al-Razzaq Ali al-Suleiman al-Assafi al-Dulaimi attends a tribal conference 24 March 2008 with U.S. Marines in Anbar Province, Iraq.
Hatem is a paramount Sunni sheikh of the Dulaim tribe of Anbar Province and also the hereditary head of the Dulaimi tribal confederation, which
includes a large number of tribal groups. Hatem was a high-profile figure in Anbar Province during the emergence of the Sunni Tribal Awakening.

devices, they probably would have failed for lack of the
ability to unify their efforts.
It is important to observe that, as a confederation
of tribes and groups with no tradition of compromising
for a greater good, Sahawa was wracked by infighting.
Even prior to its leader Sheik ‘abd al-Sattar’s assassination in September 2007, several of the founders broke
and formed a competing group.5 After Sattar’s death,
the movement splintered further. Notably, in the early
months, Sahawa spokesmen often used a sectarian
and militant tone that sharply contrasted with public
decorum used later when key leaders were attempting
to convert the movement into an anti-establishment,
national political organization in 2007 that moved
beyond merely an anti-al-Qaida coalition.
It is likely that, had Sahawa successfully converted itself into a Sunni-based tribal party and entered
the political scene on its own as an overtly sectarian
force hostile to the Shia-dominated Iraqi government,
it would have risked either inciting a civil war or
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achieving a tactical success that created a de facto, highly fractured, secessionist Sunni state at a time when
retributive Sunni-Shia violence still raged in Baghdad.
Observing these fault lines among the tribes, U.S.
officials who worked with the Sahawa leaders were able
to promote a measure of unity by constantly encouraging them to remain cooperative and civil with one
another as a condition for continued material and
financial support. In conjunction, on a daily basis, the
United States also had to stress nonsectarianism, political moderation, and inclusiveness.6
The Awakening originated from leaders rising to
the occasion. The Awakening was enacted neither by
the Iraqis with the grandest hereditary titles nor by the
first to align with the United States; it was enacted by
the ones who had earned credibility with the people
through deeds.
U.S. officials in Anbar had initial contact with an array of locals who claimed to be the head sheiks for their
tribal areas and demanded U.S. money and weapons.
March-April 2015  MILITARY REVIEW