For more information:
Callie R. Oettinger, callie@o-a-inc.com
Ph: 703-451-2476, Fax: 703-451-6870

About the Author

R. Alan King is a recognized authority in Middle Eastern Affairs and security, with extensive specialized experience in Iraq.  

Alan King served as a Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Officer, with over twenty-two years of service in the United States Army.

He is a veteran of Operation Just Cause in Panama—where he served with the 7 th Special Forces Group—and then in Operation Iraqi Freedom—where he served as the senior civil-military advisor to the 3d Infantry Division in Baghdad, Iraq, immediately following the fall of the former Iraqi regime.     

King served in Operation Iraqi Freedom from March 19, 2003 through July 4, 2004:

• first as a Civil Affairs battalion commander,
• then as the Deputy Director, Office of Provincial Outreach, Coalition Provisional Authority, Baghdad, Iraq.

In Iraq, King was credited with leading the Coalition's Tribal Affairs and Sunni outreach programs, meeting over 3,500 sheikhs and clerics. In October 2003, he was made an honorary sheikh of one of the largest tribes in Iraq. Because of his work with the sheikhs, members of the U.S. State Department dubbed him "King of Mesopotamia" and the press dubbed him "Alan of Arabia." The trust he created with the tribal sheikhs enabled him to:

• secure the surrender or capture of two members from the infamous "Deck of Cards" most wanted personalities
• and over twelve members from the most wanted blacklist and other suspected terrorists.  
• Aside from units specifically responsible for targeting high value personalities, during his time in Iraq, King was singly responsible for the highest number of blacklisted surrenders or captures.

In April 2004, King served as a senior member of the ceasefire talks in Fallujah, Iraq and was then dispatched to An Najaf, Iraq to coordinate with tribal sheikhs in response to the uprising led by the radical cleric Muktada Al-Sadr.

Under King's command, his unit became the most decorated Civil Affairs battalion in U.S. Army history. The battalion received the Presidential Unit Citation, twenty-one awards for valor, five Purple Hearts and 90% of the soldiers were awarded the Combat Action Badge.

King is among the most decorated veterans of the Iraqi conflict having been awarded two Bronze Star Medals for Valor, two Bronze Star Medals for Achievement and the Combat Action Badge.   Wounded during combat operations in Iraq, King spent 16 months in rehabilitation at Fort Bragg, NC following his return to the United States on July 4, 2004.