The sheikhs run the Sons of Iraq, the program where the US military pays local men a monthly salary to set up traffic checkpoints and generally make life difficult for foreign fighters and the militias.

It’s been very successful against the foreign-led al-Qaeda in Iraq, less so against the homegrown militias.  Many of the SoI volunteers and leaders are militia members themselves.  But as long as their neighborhoods are reasonably safe, no one cares what membership cards they have in their wallets.

This harmony was upset in Abu Jassim recently when sophisticated IEDs started appearing on the streets.  Several soldiers were wounded by them.  One was pulled off life support last night.  So the SoIs aren’t doing their jobs so well.  But with the Shiite bloodbath only five miles away, it’s not a good idea to scrap the tiny village’s only semblance of a security force.

So we came, we yelled, we cut their pay, we arrested a couple of the militia-affiliated ones who probably had a hand in the bombings.  There were a lot of kids around watching this weird scene.  What a way to learn about the world.