HABBANIYAH, Iraq, 17 June 2006 — It’s not quite 7:00 a.m. and across the verdant fields and orchards along the Euphrates River people are waking up and enjoying the morning breeze, before the furnace-like heat sets in, when some 20 Iraqi soldiers come tramping through their land. Lt. Riad Sahi, the patrol leader, is careful to stop and talk with all those he meets as his men pass through their fields, dodging the odd cow or sheep.

“I ask them about their lives, their work, their children, how they feel about the death of Zarqawi, if they need medicine,” said Sahi, explaining his effort to gather information and build support in the area — something that has earned him the respect of the US Marine advisers traveling with him.

Habbaniyah, a river town sandwiched between the insurgent strongholds of Fallujah and Ramadi, in violence-plagued western Anbar province, is also home to Iraq’s most experienced soldiers, the 1st Division. “We are the oldest Iraqi army division and we have three years of combat experience behind us, from the north to the south, from Mosul to Najaf, briefly in Tall Afar, Fallujah, Ramadi, and Sadr City,” said deputy division commander Brig. Gen. Bahia Hussein Abed Hassan, as he proudly ticked the names off on his fingers.

The 1st Division has brigades in Ramadi, Habbaniyah, Fallujah and will most likely be participating in the upcoming operation to repacify Ramadi being hinted at by Iraqi and US officials. It is a model for the rest of the Iraqi army and is one of the few among them that can handle much of its own logistics, including food, water and electricity. It’s even now being issued it’s own armored Humvees, proudly painted with Iraqi flags.

But what makes the division stand out is not just its equipment, but its willingness to get involved in the areas it holds. “Before we got here, this area was under the control of the insurgents,” said Lt. Col. Ali Khaled Abdallah, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, stationed north of the town.

“We won the respect of the population that was once quite hostile to us, “ said the 20-year army veteran. “I meet regularly with the local sheikhs and I take off my uniform and I go see them in traditional dress. After all, I’m a bit of a sheikh myself,” he joked.

Like most army units, the majority of the 1st Division’s soldiers are from Baghdad and the south of the country and generally Shiite — as opposed to the Sunnis living in Anbar.