Sep 22 2007
1200 Iraqis Line Up For Hours To Fight al-Qaeda
Who would have predicted in October of 2001, as the fires of the WTC raged under a mountain of rubble and debris, that we would witness Iraqis lining up for hours in the heat, standing in line for their opportunity to sign up to fight and destroy al-Qaeda. No one in their wildest dreams would have given credence to that idea, yet here we are in September 2007, 6 years after that fateful day, and we have hours long lines in Iraq queuing up for a chance to fight Bloody Bin Laden’s thugs:
More than 1,200 Iraqi males from in and around Tarmiyah stood in line for hours to join Iraqi Security Forces, local sheiks and Coalition Forces in the fight against al-Qaeda and other insurgent militias in Tarmiyah Sept. 12.
Local sheiks and CF from 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment reached out to the Iraqi people, asking the citizens of the small town of Tarmiyah to volunteer to defend their homes and neighborhoods against the terrorist insurgency in their town.
This concept of the people standing against al-Qaeda and other insurgents has been dubbed an “awakening,” or the mental realization that the terrorists offer nothing but fear and injustice.
“We really see now how this movement, this awakening movement, has really started to take off,” said Lt. Col. William Prior, commander, 4-9th IN. “Just a flicker at first, it’s turned into a full-fledged flame, not just here in Tarmiyah, but also in other parts of my area.
It is such stunning imagery of an equally stunning turn around in Iraq I can understand – to a point – why some liberals refuse to believe what is happening. But it is happening. And as indicated here (and as I predicted here) this is only the beginning of the wave of change in Iraq, not the end.
The change of heart towards al-Qaeda is still spreading in Iraq. It is still growing. And it is starting to break outside of Iraq’s borders as well. The “Awakening” is simply the veil falling from the ugly, bloodlust face of al-Qaeda.
And al-Qaeda’s assassination of a popular Anbar Shiek who led the Awakening efforts there has backfired, as expected, as allies of the Anbar awakening step forward and commit to the fight against al-Qaeda:
Photographs and posters of slain Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Resha were hung in Iraqi police stations and were passed around public meetings in Ramadi this week.
Calls for revenge were frequent after the charismatic Sunni leader and two others were killed in a two-bomb explosion on his family compound last week on the first day of Ramadan and a day before the first anniversary of the Anbar Awakening, which Sattar helped begin.
“Everyone here knew Sheik Sattar — he was close to all of us,†Sheik Khattab Ahmer Ali Sulayman al-Dulaymi said at a District Council meeting Monday in his home. “We want revenge — al-Qaida doesn’t make exceptions, why should we?â€
al-Qaeda’s PR mirage has been replaced with the true evil that is al-Qaeda. It took thousands of dead Muslims for the mist to be lifted from the Muslim Street, but the line of blood from all those dead and mutilated Muslims leads back to al-Qaeda. And everyone now knows this as fact. Even if the US media and liberal surrendercrats still cannot believe the world CAN BE changed so significantly by one well placed battle of ideals. Iraq is Bin Laden’s Waterloo, his Eastern front where his despicable forces broke against the wall that is the goodness of humanity. The Muslims Street is taking up arms against al-Qaeda in a big way. I don’t even see Americans lining up like this to fight al-Qaeda, which is not a knock on Americans, just to emphasize what is happening in Iraq.
While enemies within this great country wail that Bin Laden hids in a cave unable to carry out attacks on any soil, the genius of the Iraq conflict in the global war on terror continues to unfold.
Invite the enemy into a battle space they cannot compete and hide in.
Expose them to the Muslim world as fanatics that don’t care who they destroy.
Enlist those Muslims that are rational human beings yearning to be free to help us exterminate them.
Spread the message of American aid to all who wish freedom from tyranny in the Muslim world.
Watch the haters fall victims to their own actions based upon their hate. This applies to enemies externally as well as the internal variety.
Dhunter:
I agree, absolutely.
BIg Lizards has got a great post on why he thinks (and I agree) that this turnaround would never have been possible until the Iraqi’s got a chance to live with the reality of AQ in their midst for a couple of years. In 2005, they never would have believed us if we simply told them how evil AQ was; they had to find out for themselves. And now they have.
Some wars take time, sometimes a lot of time. It’s rather a juvenile hope (and one of the weaknesses of democracies) to think that long term intractable problems can be fixed without years and years – sometimes decades – of constant work. Of course, these are usually the kinds of problems that are absolutely the most vital to the future.
Luckily, it looks like we may *just* have gotten enough time to see this situation through.
I often am most impatient with the onetime supporters of the war who now denounce it, people like Newt Gingrich. They make me think of an open mouthed cartoon child screaming “I want my maypo NOW!!!!”
WWS, which was what I was wondering is happening with Basra.
Glorious!
The most astonishing thing about this affair has been how FAST it’s all been. You could see things starting to shift in May, building momentum in June…but this is a chain reaction.
And the most spectacular counterinsurgency victory since Malaya. A tour de force for American arms.
By March, as long as this continues and Iraq continues to build its army and police to the strength needed to protect themselves, the Democrats would still have no ammunition for retreat. The only choice that the Democrats have is to let Bush and Petraeus continue with their plans.
And it looks like Pakistanis in Maryland are in a lineup of a completely different sort.
The treat is right here, folks, probably right up your street.
They’ve had enough…
Of al-Qaeda’s insanity, and now more and more Iraqis are forming local defense forces allied with the Iraqi and US armies. They line-up in the hot sun for hours by the thousands for a chance to kill al-Qaeda: More than…
I almost feel sorry (key word: almost) for the Pakistani’s in Maryland – everyone else in Maryland and New Jersey can bribe their “public officials” with no problems at all.
That’s discrimination!!!
(although I guess it means that even the worst of us still have some standards)
WWS I also think that the Iraqi’s and Arabs in general for that matter, had to see that George W. Bush meant what he said, ie, that we are not occupiers. George has had to suffer so many fools in this country and our military has had to be so patient to prove to the Iraqi’s 1) that we are there for them and 2) we do not want to take over their country.
These poor people were brainwashed for THIRTY YEARS. They have to be de-programmed. Has a liberal EVER asked an abused spouse to “just get over it” and get over it NOW”? Of course not.
The Iraqi’s were abused psychologically and who can blame them if they didn’t trust us? We left in in “91 and clinton did absolutely nothing to help them. And all the propaganda that is spread around. You can imagine what is being said. Look at what some of our citizens believe in our own country.
And George has been brilliant in managing OUR emotions in this country. And he has let the Left whine, complain, gripe, criticize, attack, blame all the while being gentle with their rantings….NOW, he has something to say! And that is that we WANT ARE WINNING ! And WE WILL PREVAIL.
This man has had an incredibly tough job on so many levels and levels about which most of us will never know. And he has done so much good for such an incredibly ungrateful, narcisisstic bunch.
G_d bless George W. Bush and our magnificent military and all who have served in this administration. They stand tall above all.
I also think “Big Lizards” comments on the war are correct. No matter how many soldiers we had in Iraq, the insurgency would happen until the people themselves stood up. Any insurgency can work any where if enough people support it. A perceived occupation would be cause for Iraqis to support it.
Few politicians in this day and age would have the courage and patience to withstand the on-slot that this President has taken from MSM and the Dems. Thank you Mr. President for being one of the few and thank you America’s brave men and woman, from those of us who have pride in this countries values, we are grateful for your service.
Bill Ardolino, Bill Roggio, Michael Yon, and Michael Totten have interviewed Sunnis in the former insurgent hotspots, and they all say the same thing: They would’ve fought us no matter what.
We were “occupiers” and infidels, and they thought we were going to steal their oil and their women.
(That second fear is so poignant. We’re a country of belly shirts and low-rise jeans, booze and nightclubs and booty dancing, populated by rowdy tattooed independent go-to-hell chicks with advanced degrees and successful careers, but what our troops really want is scared, cowed, subservient, illiterate women covered head to toe in black body bags, with no clitorises?)
As one former insurgent in Fallujah said, “It was all a big misunderstanding.”