Already told you before that the Bush administration is bribing the leaders in Anbar province, both with ammo and moolah.. AND that Gates thinks this is the way to pacify people in the region. Makes you wonder how things operate in our own country, doesn't it?

But here's more. Seems that in Anbar province, MORE money that the US government is paying to contractors to get work done is actually being paid out... as protection money... to insurgents who don't WANT the United States there.

Iraq's deadly insurgent groups have financed their war against U.S. troops in part with hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. rebuilding funds that they've extorted from Iraqi contractors in Anbar province.

The payments, in return for the insurgents' allowing supplies to move and construction work to begin, have taken place since the earliest projects in 2003, Iraqi contractors, politicians and interpreters involved with reconstruction efforts said.

A fresh round of rebuilding spurred by the U.S. military's recent alliance with some Anbar tribes