Now this, from the Washington Times, is a great story.
BAQOUBA, Iraq -- He is, even by Iraqi standards, an unlikely leader -- a dentist from Manchester, England, whose only previous cause was supporting his local soccer club.
Yet Abdallah Al Jibouri, 45, an exiled Iraqi who spent more than 20 years in Britain, has turned his back on drilling and filling to become the reluctant savior of one of the Sunni Triangle's most violence-prone trouble spots.
He goes to Iraq to check on his mother and finds that his language skills are in much demand.
Much to his astonishment -- and, he says, to the dismay of his British wife, Sharon -- he also became governor of the province of Diyala, with a population of 1.8 million.
Local insurgents have paid his leadership the ultimate backhanded compliment: They have tried to kill him 14 times and have put a $10,000 bounty on his head.
But Al Jibouri seems to have decided that he cannot turn his back on the people of this province. Needless to say, his wife is not amused.
Mr. Al Jibouri, who has two teenage children, has sold his dental practice in Britain and plans to stay in Iraq until Diyala is back on its feet. He hopes that his wife will visit soon.
"She doesn't really want to come at the moment," he said. "Obviously, Manchester is quieter, and you get no hassle.
No kidding.
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