Practicing diplomacy in Diyala province takes more work than it might in other places.

Many of the sheiks and other leaders don’t have phones, faxes or e-mail. The U.S. soldiers often have to travel around the area just to coordinate meetings. That requires them to organize a security convoy of armored, well-armed Humvees just to travel from place to place to deliver messages.

“If I didn’t have those impediments, I would be meeting with different judges every week,” said Maj. John Moore, the brigade’s judge advocate, who is in charge of solidifying Diyala’s justice system.

The justice system, Moore said, is already adept at handling low-level crime.

“For strictly Iraqi-on-Iraqi crime with no political connotations, that is where their strength is — where there’s no fear of reprisal,” Moore said. “It [the legal system] is not in horrible shape because people are being convicted.

“But cases are being thrown out because of intimidation.”

While Iraqis — elected officials, tribal leaders, soldiers and police — are increasingly taking the lead at many events and operations, the U.S. military presence in Baqouba remains obvious.

When fighting had subsided in early March, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team commander, Col. Steven Salazar, pondered a temporary halt to offensive operations to give Diyala’s citizens a few days of peace while offering insurgents a chance to turn themselves in to Iraqi authorities. The Baqouba area had experienced a dramatic lull in violence and the timing seemed right.

But because of the festering insurgency, that idea was scrapped.

On the morning of March 16, a car bomb exploded outside the gates at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, home of the 3rd BCT, killing four Iraqi soldiers. Despite the attack, a sheiks’ meeting that afternoon was held as scheduled inside the base. About 150 leaders from local villages were bused to the event.

“We wanted to make them comfortable to come to Warhorse and conduct their business,” Salazar said.

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