Perspective: David Sutherland, top U.S. colonel in Iraq's Diyala province, puts theories to the test

Col. David W. Sutherland (left), 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division commander and senior U.S. Army officer in Diyala province, and Maj. Gen. Ghanem Abass Ibrahem Hasan Al Quershy, the provincial director of police (far right), speak to citizens at a meeting on March 21.

BAQOUBA, Iraq: Cigar smoke curled around Col. David Sutherland's face as he sat at his weekly campfire, just miles from the enemy, recalling the days when he paced the front of a classroom, lecturing Army officers on how to capture a town and not destroy it.

Now, those theories are getting a test in the brutal reality of Baqouba, rubbing up against a tough Sunni insurgency and al-Qaida in Iraq.

The 45-year-old Sutherland runs the U.S. military show in troubled Diyala province, a place where Iraqi police are beheaded in public parks.

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