Samarra, 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Baghdad, has managed to preserve a rare normalcy in a country torn by violence.

The mosques call the faithful to prayer as usual and the restaurants and marketplaces are packed with people. There are no torched or looted buildings and no soldiers stationed at every corner.

For the past 15 days Samarra has been governed by a council headed by a tribal leader who represents the seven major clans here. The committee also includes a retired general, doctors, teachers and ordinary people.

While the administration is not US-imposed, there is also nothing left from the structure of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

With the Red Cross acting as an intermediary, the committee and US troops sealed the deal "to protect the city from destruction and terror," said Abbas al-Ashraf, the leader of the al-Bou Abbas tribe who heads the council.

The US troops promised not to enter the city, "which is well known for its peaceful nature," nor to cut off electricity or water, he said.

"In turn, we pledged to them that Samarra would remain free of Baath Party members and armed men."

So far, the accord seems to be working in this city of 200,000 people, which is about 90 percent Sunni, the sect of Saddam which is a minority in Iraq.

The mosques, minarets and former palaces have been spared in Samarra, a capital in the ninth century under caliph al-Mutassim of the Abassid dynasty.

The only sites destroyed in the city include the local telecommunications office, bombed just before the accord was reached, and two of the Saddam regime's arms depots.

"We're entering a new stage in our relations with the Americans. We accept them because it helps us out. All we want is security and for them to help us form a new Iraqi government now that they've destroyed the one we had, and then for them to go," Ashraf said.

But even if the peace accord was successful here, not all residents of Samarra are happy with the US invasion of their country. After seeing pictures of destruction and chaos in Baghdad, some doubt US claims to be "liberators."

"What freedom are they talking about? For now, all that's happened is that we've lost everything," Ashraf said.

Sitting next to him, retired general Hisham Mohy Aldin, another member of the committee, explained that Samarra's relationship has been tense with the ousted regime for years.

Residents can read out a long list of neighbors executed on orders of Saddam Hussein over the past two and a half decades.

The fear has not gone away. Members of the committee know that if Saddam sprang back up and returned to power there would be dire consequences to pay for reaching an agreement with the Americans.

"But in truth, Saddam isn't really here anymore. The people have lost respect for him, and if he reappeared we would arrest him or lynch him," Ashraf said.

The committee hopes that within a few days most municipal employees and policemen will return to work. Schools are due to reopen soon and Samarra's pharmaceutical factory has already started operating again.

And there has been no looting, with Muslim clerics warning the faithful that stealing is a sin.

Despite the experience negotiating with US forces, Ashraf said he has no aspirations to take part in the future national government.

"I'm just a tribal chief. When regimes go and laws disappear there are still ancestral traditions from which order can be resurrected."

SPACE.WIRE