From better to verse

BAGHDAD — Call him Alan of Arabia.

The British empire had T.E. Lawrence, and the American Army has Alan King, a Koran-toting colonel who woos Iraqi sheiks with verses from the Muslim holy book.

Like Sura (chapter) 29, Aya (verse) 46: “‘If you’re dealing with a believer, you should work to resolve your conflicts peacefully,’” recites Lt. Col. King, a 40-year-old Lutheran from Arlington, Va., with a blond crew cut and a sura for every occasion.

The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) has been slow to realize the importance of tribal affiliations in Iraq, earning criticism from political analysts and anger from Iraqis.

But on Dec. 4, the CPA approved Col. King’s pet project — a council of tribal sheiks that will meet regularly and dispense advice to coalition forces.

As deputy director of the newly created Office of Provincial Outreach, under a State Department official, he will be the liaison to Iraq’s major tribes.

A reservist who normally works at Fort Bragg, Col. King coordinates political campaigns in peace time.

In 1999, he stumped for Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole in the Democratic stronghold of North Carolina’s Cumberland County.

In Iraq, the mother of all swing districts, he’s winning over tribal leaders by learning the Koran and studying tribal history.

“They’re Muslim; I’m Christian,” explains Col. King, who talks more like a multiculturalist than the Special Forces and Psy Ops veteran that he is. “So I try to explain to them that we’re both believers, and I can go to specific verses in both the Bible and the Koran.”

Col. King rolled into Baghdad with the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division days after Saddam’s regime fell. As the commander of the 422 Civil Affairs Battalion, he was responsible for advising the military on reconstructing everything — police, hospitals, utilities.

So he started familiarizing himself with the region: he got an old British colonial guide to Iraq’s tribes and began learning their history.

“I realized early on that the sheiks have a place,” says Col. King. “The idea is not to build controlling little warlords, but to use the information that the sheiks have to benefit the country.”

So far, tips from sheiks have helped Col. King’s new battalion capture numbers 23, 62, 85, 91, 97 and 99 on the U.S. military’s list of 300 most wanted, as well as recover 59 paintings looted from the Museum of Modern Art and 24 artifacts from the national museum.

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