abstract
| - An Nukhayb is a city in the Al Anbar governorate of Iraq. An Nukhayb and its neighboring villages, Habbariyah and Kasra form a single administrative unit. The town is largely self-sufficient from the central government in Baghdad, and the 2003 invasion and ensuing unrest left the town largely unaffected. The town's power comes from generators and its water from local wells. The vast majority of Nukhayb's population is made up of semi-settled Sunni Arab Bedouins who provide goods and services to the nomadic members of the tribe. Tribal affairs are governed by the Al-Hathal family, both on the tribal sheykh level and the government administrative level. In actuality, the Iraqi town of Nukhayb is made up of three smaller towns running north to south with about a mile or two distance between each of the sub-towns. The southernmost sub-town (Nukhayb proper) is home to the mayoral, police, and Iraqi National Guard headquarters, while one of the two northern sub-town is home to Nukhayb's sheik. Nukhayb is located at the largest road junction in the region, with roads going south to the Saudi Arabian border, north to the Ramadi-Jordan highway, and northeast to Karbala. Nukhayb is the last Iraqi town before Hadjis cross into Saudi Arabia on their pilgrimage to Mecca. On the border is an Iraqi Border Patrol compound (Ar Ar) where Hadji are processed before exiting and re-entering Iraq. That border crossing is a major employer of many of Nukhayb's able bodied men. The town is largely pro-American despite the mistaken arrest of nearly all the townsmen during a raid by the 101st Airborne Division on 10 September, 2003. The town was administered by Eagle Troop from the U.S. Army's 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment following the departure of the 101st Airborne. Eagle Troop rebuilt two schools, a police station, two governmental offices, and the border police compound at Ar Ar. Eagle Troop also trained the border police brigade, hired local police, and facilitated the passage of 20,000 Hadji through the border checkpoint for the January 2004 Hajj. After Eagle Troop redeployed, the community was administered by battalions of the 11th Marine Regiment until being turned over to local authorities in 2005. During the American administration of Nukhayb, major infrastructure projects were performed to improve buildings neglected by the central government.
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