Iraq's version of Hatfields and McCoys - U.S. soldiers try to broker peace

Iraq's version of Hatfields and McCoys
U.S. soldiers do their best to broker peace in decades-old feud between neighbors
Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 6, 2005


Mukshifa, Iraq -- Three armored humvees rolled into the backyard of the al-Tair family compound and out poured heavily armed American soldiers. They handcuffed three al-Tair brothers and ordered the young men to kneel in the dust facing the wall of their rundown mud-brick house.

"We're gonna do a little conflict resolution here," explained the soldiers' commander, Lt. Col. Todd Wood, 42, of Indianola, Iowa.

The al-Tairs weren't suspected insurgents, or even insurgent sympathizers, so far as the American soldiers knew. Instead, they are engaged in a decades-old feud with the Fathuls, another poor farming family, who live just yards away in this small Sunni village.

No one remembers which family was the first one to cut off the other's water supply or who first grazed his goats on the neighbor's patch of sun-baked wasteland, which is only good enough to grow onions and cattle feed.

Local sheikhs and police officers have tried -- and failed -- to reconcile the two families. On Monday, the Americans took a stab at it.

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Iraq's version of Hatfields and McCoys / U.S. soldiers do their best to broker peace in decades-old feud between neighbors
Lt. Col. Todd Wood asks for assistance as he and his escort try to understand the al-Tair family's side of the dispute. Chronicle photo by Kim Komenich



Interesting story.

These are still foreign occupying troops... I'm not convinced they're going to do any lasting good here.

Having said that, at least it's trying.