Iraqi tribe leaders find new clout

Seated in the gilded hall of Baghdad's Alwiyah Club, Sheikh Yunis Hamed al Lateef marvels at how quickly his fortunes turned. Just months earlier, the chief of the Utbah tribe was convinced he was a marked man. Saddam Hussein's regime was cracking down on tribal conflicts that it had sown itself.

But now, Mr. Lateef is part of Iraq's new political elite - tribal leaders who have brought order to the countryside and votes to the city.

"People have begun to realize just how much political power the tribes have," says Lateef as he mingles with other tribal leaders, who are called sheikhs. "We've learned a lot, we've organized, and we are ready; we have a real future now."

For decades, Iraq's 2,000 tribes were dismissed as relics of Arab history. Over the past two months, however, they have reemerged as some of the most organized political powers in the country. Unlike the more prominent Shiite clergy who have staged massive rallies over the past two months, the tribes have worked the halls of power quietly, emphasizing their influence in numbers and in allegiances. In much of the country, tribal legacies cross religions, regions, and ethnicities. Some tribes include both Sunnis and Shiites, and have numerous branches in different parts of the country. In effect, they possess far more influence that most imams do.

Much of that new clout, ironically, comes from the promise of democracy in Iraq. In the countryside, these hereditary tribal chiefs have worked to deliver protection and some semblance of law and order. In the cities, they have promised to lend nascent political parties legitimacy and votes. And throughout Iraq, they have sought to have a strong hand in the rebuilding of the country and its future institutions in their favor.

Law and order, of course, remains a significant problem for US forces. On Sunday, rocket-propelled grenade attacks on two US military convoys wounded at least four Americans, two of them seriously, a US military spokesman said Monday.

These days tribal chiefs like Lateef figure prominently among the list of those invited to political events. Where once Western diplomats mingled with Baath cadres, sheikhs in the traditional woolen cape - known as an abaya - and headdress now mingle with Iraqi political leaders and coalition representatives hoping to build ties and curry favor with the tribes.

"It's basic physics. The political parties have just arrived and have no real legitimacy," notes Basil Naqib, a senior adviser with the National Independent Party. "In the meantime, there's a power vacuum and these guys are [filling] it."

Iraq's largest tribes, the Shumar from southwestern Baghdad, the Obeidi from Northern Iraq, and the Azzawi in Diyala, are emblematic of that presence. Most tribes are comprised of tens of thousands of Iraqis, but the Shumar can lay claim to well over 100,000. Some cross Iraq's borders into Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria.

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