What form does your alliance take on the ground? 
An officer comes to see the head of the tribe to ask him for a few hundred men to secure the roads along which US military convoys are being attacked. We put forward some names, which the Americans examine. The recruits are paid 20070950 a month. When a clash occurs with Al-Qa'idah, they deploy alongside the army and the police. These recruits have links with the guerrilla. They are often former soldiers of Saddam Husayn's. They know how to fight. The Americans have supplied us with light weapons, but we are calling for heavy weapons, RPGs [rocket-propelled grenade launchers] and missiles. We must be equal to the enemy. But the Americans are not yet ready to supply them to us. They are making very slow progress on this issue.

Some people claim that you might turn these weapons on the Americans if, eventually, your political demands are not satisfied.
This is untrue. The tribal leaders have given their word. The Americans pay too much heed to our enemies in the government, who tell them that if they supply weapons to the Sunni tribes they will turn them against them. Our alliance with the Americans is solid. Following Bush's visit to Al-Anbar, people have great hopes that the reconstruction of our province will be launched. Bush promised the tribal leaders that the families who lost their homes in the Al-Qa'idah attacks will be compensated. The talks with Bush were very good. A 10920 million fund has been established for the reconstruction of Al-Anbar, and 6,000 jobs should be created.

Could this role assigned to the tribes dispel the specter of civil war?
This is our hope. Numerous tribes are mixed. Previously there were no problems between them. It was politicians in Baghdad who created this fitna (rift - Le Figaro editor's note,) and Paul Bremer (the first US governor of Iraq, in 2003 - Le Figaro editor's note) who established, it by forming a religious-based government. Now the Iranians are feeding this split. They dream of controlling Iraq's Shi'is. But the vast majority feel themselves to be primarily Arab.