Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders offer help to Shi'ite PM

Insurgents in Anbar province

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sunni tribal leaders who have vowed to drive al Qaeda out of Iraq's most restive province met the Shi'ite premier on Wednesday, marking what Washington hopes will be a breakthrough alliance against Islamist militants.

Sattar al-Buzayi, a Sunni sheikh from Anbar province who has emerged in recent weeks as a leader of a tribal alliance against Osama bin Laden's followers, said he and about 15 other sheikhs had offered their cooperation to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

"We agreed to cooperate," Buzayi told Reuters. "We haven't agreed to anything specific, but we agreed to cooperate."

Another tribal sheikh, Hameed Farhan, said most tribes backed the agreement, and that the best way forward would be for tribesmen to be recruited into the army and police in Anbar.

"If the government gives us support, you will see what we can do," he told Iraqiya state television, adding that Maliki had promised to send Iraqi forces to Anbar.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

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