BAQOUBA, Iraq — On Sunday morning, Gov. Abdullah Hassan Rashid walked into a meeting of the 41 new representatives for the province of Diyala.

The representatives were elected Jan. 30 and have since picked a new governor to replace the prideful Abdullah. The new governor took office Wednesday during a well-guarded ceremony in Baqouba.

Abdullah did not want to leave office. But at Sunday’s meeting, he wished good luck to the incoming governor, and the new governor accepted the gesture.

Both men had been well coached by U.S. Army officers on how to act graciously.

Later that day, insurgents exploded a car bomb outside a police station north of Baqouba. A nearby U.S. military helicopter responded and was fired upon by small arms. Other skirmishes flared up within a few miles. It had been a coordinated attack.

The toll: Two Iraqi soldiers killed, about 20 Iraqi soldiers and police wounded, two U.S. soldiers wounded.

For many in Iraq, democracy is a bitter pill to swallow. For U.S. soldiers, who are trained to fight and win battles, propping up the new democracy while discreetly putting an “Iraqi face” on events has been a delicate task. For soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, part of the 42nd Infantry Division’s Task Force Liberty, practicing diplomacy is one of the main jobs.

“The allegiances here are family first, then sub-tribe, then tribe, then religious sect,” said Maj. Michael Charlebois, the civil-military officer for the 3rd BCT, which oversees Baqouba. “Nationalism isn’t really there. You don’t hear them say, ‘I’m an Iraqi first.’

“We’ve got to get some sort of social contract going that says, ‘if we [the new Diyala government] provide the government, the rules and the benefits, you will obey the rules.’”

Many Iraqis were accustomed to being given necessities such as food and shelter by the former regime of Saddam Hussein, which in turn kept the same people under its thumb. Being part of a social contract — two-way cooperation between a government and its people — is as foreign to most Iraqis as the U.S. soldiers trying to usher it along.

“It [social contract] is loose, if it exists at all,” Charlebois said. “But that is what they’ve got to buy into.”

Between overseeing meetings and advising a fledgling government, the U.S. military must still wage its fight against the insurgents.

Before dawn on Tuesday, hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd BCT teamed with Iraqi soldiers to “sweep” the three villages near the attack sites. Homes and buildings were searched. Iraqi soldiers entered the homes to keep the “Iraqi face” on the operation. The U.S. Army backed them up with soldiers and firepower.

The result: Some suspects detained, some weapons confiscated, and messages to residents to cooperate with the Iraqi police and military, not the insurgents, delivered.

When one mission ends, soldiers have to be ready for the next, which sometimes is not fighting but rather helping.

Last week, the 3rd BCT commander, Col. Steven Salazar, was a guest on a radio show heard throughout the region. Most of the callers asked for money or other compensation.

Salazar attends many key meetings of Iraqis, acting as a referee if needed. For Salazar and his soldiers, it’s part of the Army’s job of helping to build up the nation it occupies.

“Frankly, it was not what I was trained to do as a young officer,” Salazar said. “It requires more sophistication and some talented people to do it.”

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