In Iraq, U.S. Marines Rely on Allies Like a Hatchet-Wielding Colonel to Keep the Peace

Col. Ahmed Hamid Sharqi, chief of the North Ramadi police precinct.

Other men fresh out of Bucca are being paid by Colonel Ahmed to inform on their former terrorist comrades. In one instance, he paid a man released from Bucca $2,500 to inform on an AQI cell. The man left prison, duly fell back in with his old insurgent friends, and learned that an AQI cell was moving improvised explosive devices from Syria, through Mosul (the current AQI stronghold), into Ramadi. With the informant's help, the Iraqi police nabbed members of the cell red-handed with their bombs unexploded.

The Ramadi district is also starting to work with Iraqi police units from other cities, which has helped them pick up several groups of foreigners who've made their way into Ramadi from towns to the north and south. The police also have instituted new rules for warrants and due process, aimed at protecting innocent Iraqis from suffering because of arrests made in error. It's basic police work, to be sure, but work that's not been done in Anbar province since coalition forces invaded.

The precinct is operating more like a law enforcement agency and less like a military unit. But while respect and professionalism are long-term goals, Colonel Ahmed and his men can meanwhile rely on a monopoly on force—and sometimes a hatchet—to keep the streets safe.

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