IRAQ: Marines, sheiks and swords

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Marine brass on Saturday invoked a victorious alliance 200 years ago between Marines and Arabs to show their appreciation for the help they have received from Anbar province’s tribal sheiks in fighting insurgent groups.

Sheiks from the Albu Mahal, Al Jugayfi, and Albu Nimr tribes were given replicas of the jeweled sword an Arab leader bestowed in 1805 on Lt. Presley O’Bannon for having led a joint fight against the ruler of Tripoli, who was allied with Barbary Coast pirates. The sword led the Marines to adopt swords as mandatory gear for officers.

‘We are not just friends, we are brothers,’ Maj. Gen. Walter E. Gaskin, the top Marine in Iraq, told the sheiks.

The sheiks, who had been given a ride to the ceremony in the Marines’ newest aircraft, the tilt-rotor Osprey, were in an expansive mood.

‘If you want us to liberate Afghanistan for you with this sword, we will,’ said Sheik Sabah Mahalawi of the Mahal tribe.

-- Tony Perry at Camp Fallouja, Iraq