Village where US razor wire cuts deep

FOR two months, this village, blessed with orange orchards and date groves, has been surrounded by a razor wire fence.

The enclosure is a story of how Americans have used tough measures in their bid to defeat an ugly nine-month insurgency.

But the US military commander in this area has also introduced an even more radical measure, demanding that 126 tribal leaders sign a contract to stop the violence in their tiny Iraqi farm village or go to jail.

The tactics have evoked comparisons with Israel's hard-nosed methods in the occupied Palestinian territories and stirred accusations from rights groups of collective punishment.

But US troops feel they had no choice left to them after trying to work with Abu Hishma since the summer.

Lieutenant Colonel Nate Sassaman said he believed the contract was the only way to break a guerrilla cell in the village.

A code of silence had stopped anyone from coming forward with information on the death of one of his soldiers, killed on November 17 by a rocket-propelled grenade.

The ambush shattered what Sassaman called his Ramadan peace treaty in which he lifted the village's night curfew, ended patrols and donated funds to local prayer leaders for Islam's holiest of months.

And after insurgents killed one of his men, Sassaman was determined to make the village pay the price.

"They broke the peace agreement we had," he said.

So he erected the razor wire fence, set up one village entry point and did not allow men inside except those with newly issued identification cards giving their name, age and the kind of car they drive.

He detained the local town council and the police chief for 72 hours.

And he opted for erecting the razor wire fencing, copying the model used in late October to subdue Auja, Saddam Hussein's home village to the north.

Still, no one came forward with information on the guerrillas.

So Sassaman chose to draft the contract for the village. He called the terms an Iraqi solution proposed to him by an influential Abu Hishma sheikh now living in Baghdad.

The first week of December, Sassaman brought the sheikhs to his base. They presented their demands -- lifting the curfew, removing the razor wire and ending the patrols.

Then Sassaman delivered his terms: prevent attacks in your area or the coalition would "deliver a punishment of whatever we choose" most probably jail.

About 26 sheikhs refused to attend the meeting, but almost all of them headed to the base the next day and signed.

One Abu Hishma leader Saleh Knief Diab who signed, says none of the leaders had a choice.

Tanks patrolled their village every day and they were worried Sassaman would make good on his threats to expel the residents of Abu Hishma.

"There was no debate. We did what they asked," he said.

"They threatened to transfer us to Diyala to a camp where they set up 1,000 tents."