Jun 02 2007
The Sunni – al Qaeda War Continues In Iraq
Our new Sunni allies in Iraq are proving to be a potent force. They clearly have the edge in that they know who the foreigners are fighting for al Qaeda. And they seem to be doing a bang up job of eradicating al Qaeda from Iraq:
A senior Al-Qaeda commander in Fallujah was shot dead Saturday by unknown militants, police in the restive western Iraqi city announced, in further Iraqi attacks on the militant group.
Colonel Tareq al-Dulaimi, a senior police intelligence officer with close ties to Anbar Province’s pro-US tribal coalition, confirmed reports that Muwaffaq al-Jugheifi had been killed but did not identify the attackers.
The attack comes just a day after Anbar’s tribal forces announced they had sent 50 plain clothes secret police into the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Amiriyah to kill Qaeda members there battling with rival insurgent groups.
…
The fighting mirrors the situation in Anbar and elsewhere around the country where Sunni armed groups, who are not generally sympathetic to the US-led occupation, are turning against Al-Qaeda and its pan-Islamist ambitions.
US forces have recently admitted that they are actively working with the nationalist insurgent movements, led by ex-military officers and Baathists, to fight against Al-Qaeda.
“Multinational forces are in talks to turn the 1920 Revolution Brigades against Al-Qaeda,” Major Pool told AFP in Fallujah recently.
His regimental commander Colonel Richard Simcock said they were in contact with armed elements in the rural areas between Fallujah and Abu Ghraib, just west of the capital, to form neighbourhood watch committees.
It is amazing how things are turning around. We went from the doom and gloom of the Surrendercrats to the possibility of success with new allies who are assisting us in the clear-and-hold strategy of the surge Bush put in place. And it is so obvious why these events are coming about. al-Qaeda is mindlessly brutal. They are the purest definition of Islamo Fascists. And it is no surprise Muslims and Arabs who are not living under their jack-boots are fighting to remain free of them:
A suicide bomber linked to al Qaeda struck a safehouse occupied by an insurgent group that has turned against al Qaeda.
The attack Friday northeast of Baghdad killed two other militants, police said, in the latest sign that an internal Sunni power struggle is spreading.
…
The explosion in Baqouba came as Iraqi and U.S. troops fanned out in the Sunni stronghold of Amariyah in the capital, enforcing an indefinite curfew after heavily armed residents clashed with fighters from al Qaeda in Iraq. The residents were apparently fed up with the group’s brutal tactics.
“Al Qaeda fighters and leaders have completely destroyed Amariyah,” said Abu Ahmed, 40, a Sunni father of four who said he joined in the clashes. “No one can venture out, and all the businesses are closed. They kill everyone who criticizes them and is against their acts even if they are Sunnis.”
Other residents said the clashes began after al Qaeda militants abducted and tortured Sunnis from the area. That prompted a large number of residents, including many members of the rival Islamic Army who are armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, to rise up against al Qaeda. U.S. forces joined them in the fighting Wednesday and Thursday.
With the insurgency appearing increasingly fragmented, Iraqi officials congratulated Amariyah residents for confronting al Qaeda.
A growing number of Sunni tribes have reportedly been turning against al Qaeda elsewhere as well, repelled by the terror network’s sheer brutality and austere religious extremism.
We seem to be at a tipping point brought on by al-Qaeda and opportunistically leveraged by Bush in the timing of the Surge. We could see dramatic progress in Iraq if these trend lines continue. Baqouba is the capitol city of Diyala province and the second city claimed by al-Qaeda to be the destined center of the modern caliphate. The first such designated city was Ramadi in nearby Anbar Province. If al Qaeda loses its grip on two capitol cities of its modern caliphate in two years most people might call that near defeat. And it seems that just may happen in the coming weeks.
20 years from now some Lefty will start posting pictures of American Colonels shaking hands with ‘Sheiks of Ill Repute’ to prove that we were complicit in actions that are occurring in 2030!!!
Maybe that Leftist 20/20 Hindsight will be 100% correct in 2020. But, they have been unable to make a decision and stand by it in the present. So conflicted. So very conflicted.
The other alternative future might be an America without sea lanes. An America dependent on the Chinese Army to make the world safer for tyranny. Now, there is progress!!!
The fact that they’re taking upon themselves to stand up against the insurgents is a very good sign. Guess they had to be subjected to the radical whims of the insurgents first before understanding the necessity of freedom and liberties. It would be interesting to see that Iraqi civilians would ask for removal of Shari’ah law from their constitution.
This fits in with the Galula plan that Patraeus adopted for this surge. Looks like the objectives of the surge just may change.
I see that a local chief in Somalia called USA for help to fight against the Islam insurgents. Plus USA’s helping Lebanon. Two good signs.
The British academics choosing to boycott Israel is not a good sign, though.
AJ
I’m wondering if there is US action in the middle east that may be drowning out the surrender words of the Dems. We see the surge bringing about exactly what Petreus predicted in Iraq. Iraqi’s joining with US forces to clear out Al Qaeda. The Lebanese, with resources from the US fighting back Islamists. Israeli’s continue to pound them in Gaza. And forces in Somalia getting help from a US destroyer…see here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070602/ap_on_re_af/somalia_us_14;_ylt=AiqR2bEG.MmtN9NQXUPO8gJlM3wV
I still would like them to find out who (one or several) is leaking from CIA or Congress to the NYT valuable data like the network in Iran recently and the NSA monitoring of terrorist’s communications and funding. And I would like to know who fed information to ACLU on that Al Qaeda suit against Boeing. We need to take care of our internal enemies as well as those in the battlefields.
Such denial:
“It is amazing how things are turning around.”
I wonder if AJ has considered that the Baathist jihadists and Sunni
nationalist jihadists that US troops are now working with temporarily
against foreign jihadists probably have killed more US troops
in Iraq than have foreign jihadists!
I also wonder if he might not have considered that the native
Iraqi Sunni tribes in question fully blame Bush and America
for having created the havoc which enabled foreign jihadists
to enter their country in the first place. I wonder if he
has considered this,and other features, will not endear them to
the American occupation’s goals even after foreign jihadists
might be driven out.
Wow,
It didn’t take twenty years:
“20 years from now some Lefty will start posting pictures of American Colonels shaking hands with ‘Sheiks of Ill Repute’ to prove that we were complicit in actions that are occurring in 2030!!!”
‘TheCenterCannotHold” started posting photos within twenty minutes.
Think of it this way. If we do not act now, than we will have to ally with a chap – or chaps – as benevolent, kind, and honest as Stalin in the future. The inability to act in 1937 didn’t foreswear acting in 1942 – did it? It just changed our Christmas list for a few years.