From The Guardian UK
By Ryan Lenz

U.S. Army soldiers sit cross-legged in a room thick with kerosene fumes from a whistling heater while a sheik puffs quietly on a cigarette.

Dressed in a dapper brown coat and robe, the aging Iraqi is not a suspect in any roadside bombings or as someone who helps insurgents. He is a prominent figure who knows the area’s residents well, and the soldiers need his help tracking rebels.

U.S. military units across Iraq often rely on the personal touch in hunting for clues about insurgents, sitting down to sip tea - chai in Arabic - with locals and building a rapport with tribal leaders.

“Our primary focus, which isn’t what we trained for, is to get the town on our side. It’s, ‘This is the type of protection I can offer if you help me out,”’ said Staff Sgt. Gary Frisbee, 28, of Chattanooga, Tenn., one of those at the meeting in Bujwari.

The village sits near Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad. Iraq’s largest refinery is in Beiji and threats by insurgents to kill tanker-truck drivers have shut down refining since Dec. 18, creating a fuel shortage in much of Iraq. The Americans want to find those making the threats.

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