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The Swift Rise and Fall of Iraqi Cleric Nadhim Khalil  

But the voice of the mastermind lingered with Hammoud, and his recollection led Iraqi and U.S. soldiers this month to arrest Nadhim Khalil, a former insurgent leader known to his followers as Mullah Nadhim, who had become an American ally here.

Khalil's rivals have hailed his detention. His colleagues call it caprice. Either way, it underlines the free-for-all of elusive loyalties, stinging betrayals and unrequited vengeance as the U.S. military withdraws, its erstwhile allies splinter, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki remains tentative and everyone vies for power ahead of national elections.

In short, no one is in charge in Thuluyah. Khalil was -- until his arrest. . . .

After Hussein's fall, powerful tribes with the names of Jabbouri, Khazraji, Ubaidi and Bufarraj filled the void. But Khalil soon played his own role. The Americans persuaded tribal elders to make him a member of the city council, as a representative of the town's clergy. The honeymoon was brief, and by year's end, Khalil's zeal against the occupation, what he called a cancer in his sermons at the Caliphs Mosque, brought him into the insurgents' ranks. By August 2006, he had joined al-Qaeda in Iraq, a homegrown Sunni movement that U.S. officials say is led by foreigners and that soon seized control of Thuluyah, imposing a vision of Islamic law that banned smoking in the street.

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