On Scene: U.S. Troops Caught in the Middle

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In one of the first flare-ups of its kind — and a possible sign of trouble to come — American troops struggled to calm tensions between Iraq's disparate security forces early Friday afternoon in Zambraniya, a Sunni farming community about 10 miles south of Baghdad. The U.S. soldiers found themselves between their Iraqi army counterparts and members of a Sunni "concerned local citizens" (CLC) group — the type of outfit the Americans say have helped them quiet the al-Qaeda militants who once plagued Iraq.

A CLC guard at a Zambraniya checkpoint informed the Americans and Iraqis of a roadside bomb just a stone's throw from the checkpoint, which had only been established three days before. Two Iraqi army soldiers volunteered to check it out on their own, but when they proceeded only a few yards down a dirt path, one of them set off a mine. The Americans immediately sent out a radio call for a medivac, although there was only one man left after the device detonated. The other, the radio call crackled, had been "blown to pieces."

The Iraqi army soldiers, numbering about 20, were furious at what they felt was a trap sprung by local checkpoint guards belonging to the CLC. They pointed their guns at the eight CLC guards. Only three American soldiers stood between the two groups, with the rest off securing the landing zone for the medivac of the wounded Iraqi soldier. U.S. sergeant first class Al Bolshazy was one of three soldiers in the middle when one of the Iraqi army soldiers, agitated and screaming at the CLC guards, fired a shot over his head towards the CLC guards. "The f---ing Iraqi army were out of control," says Bolshazy, who threatened force to stand down the Iraqi soldiers. "I'm really surprised a gun battle didn't break out here." After much more shouting the Americans were able to separate the CLC guards and the Iraqi army soldiers into two separate buildings. "I thought it was going to be an all out war with the American soldiers in the middle," says first lieutenant Nate Raudenbush of bravo troop, third platoon, 6-8 cavalry regiment. He had been playing soccer with the Iraqi soldiers earlier in the day.

Tensions between the Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi army and the Sunni CLC members are never far from the surface. The Iraqi army isn't trusted by the locals, who see them as Shi'ite outsiders (most of the rank and file hail from southern Iraq) imposed by a government that is hostile to Sunnis. For their part, the Iraqi army doesn't trust a community that they say once played host to al-Qaeda.

And the animosities have even more recent roots. Bolshazy says when American troops cleared the area last month alongside the Iraqi army the Iraqi soldiers would ransack their houses. "Anything of value disappeared," says Bolshazy. Another complicating factor involves the reward money that Americans offer to anyone who brings in arms or explosives. When CLC members have identified explosive devices in the past, the Iraqi army has taken credit for the find, says Bolshazy. But again, many CLC members are former fighters who put their guns down when American troops killed or chased out the insurgent's leadership. When the CLC members bring bombs, rockets and mortars to the base, captain Christopher O'Brien is reluctant to ask too many questions about how the CLCs came into the munitions.

"We need all these groups to work together to make the area safer. There's not enough Americans to make the area secure and no one knows the area better than the CLCs," Lt. Raudenbush tells four Iraqi army officers and four CLC leaders who have come to a muddy American army outpost and meet in a small bare concrete room two hours after the blast. They have come to sip tea and trade accusations. When the electricity goes out all that is visible are the lit ends of each man's cigarette.

The only thing they can agree on is that they don't want to work together. But the Iraqi army officers, who have a longer working relationship with their American counterparts, are willing to go out to the checkpoint and apologize to the CLC guards who were threatened and are distrustful of the Iraqi army. (As for the CLC member who informed the Americans and the Iraqis of the IED on Friday, he ran off shortly after the blast. The CLC and Iraqi army disagree on whether he might have been involved in a set-up. According to Captain O'Brien, "what's more significant is that the Iraqi army captain said 'lets turn the page'. it's a 50-50 chance," that the CLC guard could have placed the IED himself or just run off in fear. "They talk about the 'gray area,'" says O'Brien. "It's all Zambraniya gray.")

Ultimately, it's the Americans who force these groups to work together. That ability to convince does not come from some moral high ground. In the end, its because the U.S. possesses the biggest and most powerful weapons. And the most cash.