Their reasons may be different, but General David Petraeus of the US army and Sheikh Abdul Sattar of the Abu Risha tribe both carry the hopes of many looking for a rapid end to the fighting in Iraq.

Petraeus is the new commander of US forces, heralded as a counterinsurgency guru and now tasked with nipping Iraq’s sectarian civil war in the bud through the judicious use of a “surge” in troop numbers.

Abdul Sattar is the head of a growing alliance of Iraqi tribes who have vowed to rid western Iraq’s notorious “Sunni triangle” of fighters loyal to Al Qaeda, its offshoots and imitators.

“I’ve heard many things about you,” beamed Abdul Sattar when he bumped into Petraeus on Tuesday outside a meeting between Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki and leaders from western Iraq’s Anbar province.

“Well, I’ve heard many things about you,” replied the general. ”It’s one of the most famous developments that there’s been since I came back to Iraq.”

The “famous development” was the launch last year of the “Sahwat Al Anbar” or Anbar Awakening, an alliance of Sunni tribes, which opposes Al Qaeda and is beginning to cooperate with Iraq’s Shia-led government.

Petraeus, of course, has much more on his plate than just the conflict in Anbar, in particular the sectarian bloodletting tearing apart the capital Baghdad and the training of the country’s fledgling security forces.

But Anbar, while long the heartland of the insurgency and still a very violent place, is one place where US commanders are at last seeing things move in the desired direction.

Some believe a turning point has been reached.

“We will defeat terrorists so that hopefully, once we’ve defeated them here, we can go with you and defeat them in Afghanistan,” declared Abdul Sattar, as the two crowds of reporters following each man coalesced into one.

Since September, the Awakening has been taking steps to defeat Al Qaeda in what was once an area of safe havens for militants, where US and Iraqi troops could never count on help from civilians.

New police recruits

Now, tribal militias have begun protecting neighbourhoods and reporting strangers, and sheikhs have been funnelling unemployed young gunmen — who would once be prime insurgent recruits — into the embattled police force.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Abdul Sattar began the next phase in his plan — turning the credit he is earning with the government, the Americans and his fellow sheikhs into enough political capital to lead an Anbar revival.

This could in itself prove dangerous. It may bring him into conflict with the current governor and the main Sunni movement, the Islamic Party.

But observers believe that if the Sunnis of western Iraq are to accept Iraq’s new political reality, they must feel they are adequately represented in the centre. So far that has not been the case.

Sunni Iraqis had dominated political life since the British mandate and before, despite representing only around 20 percent of the population.

But four years ago, when US-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein, his fellow Sunnis were plunged into shock and resentment.

Iraq’s Kurds had built political structures in their autonomous northern region and the majority Shias had formed parties in exile in Iran and the West. Both were well placed to step into the power vacuum.

Sunnis initially resisted the new regime, some by boycotting polls, others by actively or passively supporting the insurgent groups that sprang up in the west and north to continue Saddam’s war with the Americans.

Many thousands of lives have since been lost and Anbar is still in crisis. But Sunnis are slowly having to adapt to the fact that, whatever bloodshed the next few years hold, they will have to accept minority status.

If Abdul Sattar or someone with similar stature manages to emerge as a credible Sunni leader prepared to work with both Baghdad and the United States, then some suggest there may be a future for a united Iraq.

“We have great respect for what you’re doing,” Petraeus told his new ally.

Of course, two men alone can’t stop the chaos that has engulfed Iraq.

But who should come up the steps towards the pair as they got to know one another under the gaze of the press? Prime Minister Maliki came smiling into view with his own phalanx of guards and reporters.

Three men — American, Sunni and Shia — with a big task ahead of them.