Tribal Engagement in Anbar Province: the critical role of special operations forces

Joint Force Quarterly, July, 2008 by Thomas R. Searle

(2) Charles H. Briscoe et al., All Roads Lead to Baghdad: Army Special Operations Forces in Iraq (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2006), 420-423.

(3) Ann Scott Tyson, "In a Volatile Region of Iraq, U.S. Military Takes Two Paths," The Washington Post, September 15, 2006, 1.

(4) Kurt Wheeler, "Counterinsurgency Success in Al Anbar," Leatherneck, October 2007, 21-22, available at <www.mcamember.org/leatherneck/article_Oct07_success.asp>.

(5) George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed (New York: Knopf, 1998), 488-489; Michael Eisenstadt, "Iraq Tribal Engagement Lessons Learned," Military Review (September-October 2007), 28-29.

(6) Eisenstadt, 28-29.

(7) "New Bush Strategy in Iraq Will Aim to Shield Public from Insurgents," Inside the Pentagon, November 3, 2005.

(8) Sudarsan Raghavan, "In Iraq, a Perilous Alliance with Former Enemies," The Washington Post, August 4, 2007, A1.

(9) David R. Sands, "Sunnis Turn on Al Qaeda over Marriages," The Washington Times, August 31, 2007.

(10) David Ignatius, "Shaky Allies in Anbar," The Washington Post, September 20, 2007, 21.

(11) Sam Dagher, "Sunni Muslim Sheikhs Join U.S. in Fighting Al Qaeda," The Christian Science Monitor, May 3, 2007; Leila Fadel, "Old Allegiances Loom Large as U.S. Trains Iraqi Forces," Miami Herald, June 17, 2007.

(12) Fadel.

(13) Sean Naylor, "Jumping the Fence: Tribal 'Awakening' Brings Troops-and Hurdles," Army Times, June 4, 2007.

(14) Richard A. Oppel, Jr., "Mistrust as Iraqi Troops Encounter New U.S. Allies," The New York Times, July 16, 2007.

(15) Fadel.

(16) Raghavan, A1.

(17) Robert W. Gee, "Departing Colonel's Legacy: Closer Ties among Iraq Tribes," Austin American-Statesman, November 26, 2007, 1.

(18) Philip Shishkin, "Brothers in Arms: Sheik Backs U.S., Sibling Is Suspect," The Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2007, 1; Ned Parker, "U.S. Seeks Pact with Shiite Militia," Los Angeles Times, September 12, 2007, 1.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas R. Searle, USAR, is a Historian at U.S. Special Operations Command.