.Sattar's funeral (AFP/Getty Images)..

How much of a setback, then, is the murder? Abdul Sattar was the dashing, robed thirtysomething figure America could use as an example of what Sunnis can get if they turn against terrorists. His tribesmen were formed into security forces and paid salaries. He grew in stature to the point that he was allowed to meet George W. Bush when the president made his Labor Day visit to Anbar. The sheik died Thursday when, a U.S. military official told NEWSWEEK, a car parked near the entrance to the sheik’s large compound exploded as he passed by. His death could throw the movement into disarray.

That’s the story line, anyway. But nothing in Iraq, especially tribal politics, is that simple. Abdul Sattar was the leader of only one of several factions lining up with the U.S. military, and his influence was always questionable. He was a useful role model, but the other tribal leaders had made their own decisions to oppose Al Qaeda and its violent atrocities. They and their constituent tribe members saw two foreign forces on their turf, the United States and Al Qaeda. When Al Qaeda became too ruthless in its killings of tribe members who failed to support them and too brutal in its enforcement of fundamentalist Islam, the tribes sought the help of the other big force, the Americans. Abdul Sattar was one of the first to emerge and won the biggest public accolades. But Abdul Sattar, who even allies suspected of being a smuggler and opportunist in the great tradition of desert tribesmen, was hardly standing alone.

Abdul Sattar’s death could lead to jockeying and bloodshed among the tribes--but that might have happened anyway. It’s even plausible that he was killed with the help of competitors within his own movement. The death just highlights the tensions and dangers that already existed for a tribal alliance rife with divisions and shifting coalitions, based on a mixture of power, security and money.

Downplaying Expectations? Ambassador Crocker, speaking to Baghdad store owners this past weekend, says just about everyone is unhappy with work on the ‘benchmarks’.

In the marble-lined palace housing most of the U.S. Embassy staff on Tuesday, around a table with the coffee, bottled water and cookies offered at these briefings, it was unclear exactly why Crocker wanted to hold the briefing, which was scheduled a few days ago. He gave no opening statement before throwing it open to questions that he answered in characteristic modesty--noting when he had doubts or didn't have answers. He likely wants to downplay the emphasis and expectations around the September report. Crocker said that even if the Iraqi government had tackled all the benchmark issues, the country could still be headed in the wrong direction. And even if it tackles none of them, but leaders are talking, bonding and building their capacity for peaceful politics, Iraq could be on the right track.

As if Nouri al-Maliki didn't have enough to worry about. Aside from rising violence and his government's laggardly progress on a slew of political and legislative benchmarks set by the U.S., the Iraqi prime minister also seems increasingly consumed by fears of coups and conspiracies. Iraqi media reported this week that Maliki once again accused certain Iraqi politicians of "conspiring" against the government with the help of "foreign intelligence." And Al-Hayat newspaper reported that Iraqi security officials had detained a number of tribal chiefs and former Iraqi Army officers in Dhi Qar province "for their proven links to the intelligence services of an Arab state . . . and for supplying moral, material and logistical support for armed groups that operate in southern Iraq."

Though Maliki hasn't publicly named the alleged coup mastermind, Iraqi media and everyone else assumes he means former prime minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite politician who spent many years in exile in London. The fact that Allawi and his aides have been circling Arab capitals for months--popping up in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and so forth--to drum up regional support has further unnerved Maliki's team.

For his part, Allawi derides the notion that he's plotting a coup. "Due to its own failures, the government has been trying to blame others. It's a joke," Allawi told NEWSWEEK in a recent phone interview, "They've been saying this for a year--what kind of coup would take a year to materialize?"

Still, Allawi makes no secret of the fact that he's trying to form a new parliamentary bloc. He and his colleagues hope to gather enough votes to replace Maliki's administration, which has become increasingly identified with sectarian bloodshed and lack of progress on political reconciliation. "What we want to do is stop the country's continuing slide into a black tunnel of sectarianism, chaos and anarchy," says Allawi. His group is attempting--so far without success--to cement alliances among his own Iraqi National List, the Sunni Islamic party and "Iraqi National Dialogue" front, plus smaller Shiite, Kurdish and Turkomen groups.

After the most formal, direct talks between the United States and Iran in decades, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker today said the two sides found "broad agreement" in their declared policies and principles about the war in Iraq. That is, both sides say they want a stable, democratic Iraq. But stated policies and principles don't add up to much amid conflict that is becoming more and more a proxy war between the United States and Iraq's most powerful neighbor. Crocker, who gave a 15-minute news conference after the four hours of talks here today, said the United States told Tehran to stop supporting Iraqi militias with weapons, training and money. He said the Iranians denied the allegations.

The Iranians proposed setting up a trilateral security group consisting of the United States, Iran and Iraq to work on Iraqi security issues. Crocker says he told them the purpose of the meeting was not to discuss further meetings. Instead, the purpose was "to lay out concrete concerns, as we did, and our expectation that action would be taken on them." And, for good measure, he said he told the Iranians that before Washington would have another meeting, "we're going to wait and see, not what is said next, but what happens next on the ground, whether we start to see some indications of a change in Iranian behavior."

So much for agreement. The Associated Press reported later that the Iranian envoy, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, claimed another meeting would be held within a month. He said Iran offered to help train Iraqi security forces. Crocker did note that the Iranians had criticized the U.S. effort to train the Iraqi troops, which Crocker rebuffed by pointing out the "billions" of dollars already spent on the U.S. training effort.

...

Blair met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for about an hour Saturday morning before the conference. He said there were real signs of progress in the country and the British government would continue to support the Iraqi people even after he leaves office. But he was less composed when asked about the mortar attacks earlier in the day. "There are mortar attacks and terrorist attacks happening every day. That's the reality," he said. "The question is, what are we going to do in the face of those attacks? Those attacks, by a minority of people, want to destroy the progress here. And the answer is we don't give in to them." And he couldn't resist a dig at the media. "The very purpose of the attacks, the suicide bombs, the mortars aimed in here so you will carry nothing but that on your news and won't actually talk about the progress that's happening here."

The exchange got more heated when a BBC reporter said the claims of progress sound like "fantasy" to Iraqis. "Well, you say that," Blair shot back. "Why don't you actually listen to what the person who is the president of Iraq says about Iraq? With the greatest respect to you, you're no more qualified than me to talk. But he's qualified and he's qualified [pointing to Talabani and Maliki]. Because they're actually Iraqis who are elected to govern."