U.S. Pays More Than $5M To Buy Loyalty of Iraqi Tribes

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The New York Sun

TIKRIT, Iraq — The stack of cash sat enticingly on the table beneath a beaded chandelier inside one of Saddam Hussein’s marbled palaces: $15,000 in red-and-green Iraqi notes.

Three tribal leaders inched closer as an American military commander explained how the bundle was theirs if they secured a 30-mile road through a lawless stretch of countryside.

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