Earlier this week hundreds of Iraqis queued in the dirt outside an elementary school in Iraq's Northern Diyala River Valley to benefit from a major outreach effort by U.S. and Iraqi military doctors -- the first free medical clinic for residents of the town of Himbus and its surrounding villages.

In al-Hib children lined up behind Stryker armored vehicles and carried armloads of U.S.-donated notebooks, pencils and other materials into their school. The same morning, drivers of 66 trucks lined up at East Sawid and then headed north to Mosul to market their oranges, potatoes, pomegranates and dates after U.S. and Iraqi troops inspected their vehicles, took down driver details and issued special passes.

"I'm trying to build human intelligence," said Army Lt. Col. Rod Coffey, commander of the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment.

"The population is less nervous every day about giving us information on the remaining al-Qaida in the area," and outreach efforts such as the medical clinic helps the process along.

Himbus is located in what is known as Iraq's "Bread Basket." Until Jan. 8, when U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a multi-pronged operation, it was an al-Qaida-Iraq stronghold -- so much so that severed heads marked bridge crossings into the area. There were training camps, arms and explosives caches, even regulations the population had to abide by, such as no music, no smoking, no shaving and full-length veils for women.

The United States, captured al-Qaida-Iraq pamphlets said, wanted to destroy Islam and with Israel wanted to destroy Iraq.

In its retaking of the DRV, U.S. forces have detained at least 58 terrorist suspects, found a small tunnel system in a palm grove, and turned up 20 large arms caches, 16 improvised explosive devices, seven vehicles loaded to explode and six houses rigged with booby traps.

Every day as soldiers search more palm groves and look in more isolated houses, more enemy weaponry is found. And interspersed with the searches are the presence and census patrols, when soldiers interact more closely and personally with the locals.

Soldiers say when they first entered Himbus, they were greeted by empty streets. Later, when the people overcame their fear and came outside their homes, the greeting was cold, hard stares. Today, walking the town's dusty or muddy streets and alleys, it's tentative waves and smiles. When entering compounds -- out of the site of neighbors and others -- it's offerings of sweet tea, flat bread and fruit.

But Himbus is still a work in progress, and frustration often dogs U.S. troops.

The frustration comes from lack of expected heavy fighting in the DRV, which al-Qaida-Iraq considered part of its Islamic caliphate. Instead of gun battles with some of the 200-500 AQI terrorists earlier thought to be in the area, there were only occasional snipings and many of al-Qaida-Iraq's trademark IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, along roads, in deserted houses in the palm groves soldiers must search.

Most of the enemy fled before the attack, probably tipped off by the increase of armored vehicles into a forward operating base near the area and the increase in helicopter traffic.

Frustration also comes at the hesitant, fearful baby steps Iraqi non-combatants are taking in cooperating with coalition forces to identify terrorists and terrorist sympathizers hiding in their midst.

And that's where the patience comes in.

"How can you tell me you know nothing about the al-Qaida camp that was just 500 meters from your farm -- that you didn't know it was there?" Lt. Max Ferguson of Iron Company, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Cavalry Regiment asked an elderly man pruning vines on the outskirts of Himbus.

Oh, that camp, was the reply. I stayed inside, the man said through an interpreter, and only saw trucks with masked men coming from there sometimes.

"If you stayed inside, how did you do your work in the fields?" Ferguson said.

There was no answer from the man, just silence.

At a village of al-Hib, the village elder one minute said there were no al-Qaida-Iraq operatives or supporters in his area, but the next asked for an AK-47 rifle to protect himself since he's been seen cooperating with U.S. forces.

The contradiction didn't escape Ferguson, who pressed again for information on al-Qaida-Iraq, but also stressed protection comes from the coalition and from villagers establishing armed neighborhood watch groups that have played an important part in establishing security in many other communities in Iraq.

The people of al-Hib and Himbus have not established Concerned Local Citizens groups yet.

"Al-Qaida made us like chickens, afraid of everything," al-Hib's elder explained.

The attitude is not strange to U.S. troops in Iraq. It is an attitude and pattern of behavior that existed in Iraq long before U.S. forces arrived in 2003. Fence-sitting, keeping your head down under Saddam Hussein, was a way for you and your family to survive running afoul of those with the power to punish and punish brutally. Baghdad and Anbar province have for the most part overcome the mindset or are well along the road to doing so. Baqubah, the capital of Diyala province, is well on the way to overcoming it and helping take control of its own security. The DRV, newly liberated after two years of al-Qaida-Iraq terror, is still caught up in fear and indecision.

Coffey believes there are possibly 50-60 hardcore terrorists left in his area of responsibility. There are also supporters by choice or intimidation, as well as a larger population standing on the sidelines.

"There remains in my operational area AQI that have gone to ground or are hiding in plain sight. They are going to be rolled up in time," he said.

Coffey is pleased by the fact that a tip from a Himbus resident led to the detention of 10 suspects this week, and that five of the 10 were on a U.S. intelligence database because of alleged terrorist links.

Information on the East Sawid truck drivers and on others interviewed by soldiers will be entered into a database and cross-referenced.

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