Sunnis Targeting al-Qaida......Maybe there is hope?

[Bonnie]

Some Sunnis targeting al-Qaida in IraqBASSEM MROUEAssociated PressBAGHDAD, Iraq - Residents reported curious declarations hanging from mosque walls and market stalls recently in Ramadi, the Sunni Muslim insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad. The fliers said Iraqi militants had turned on and were killing foreign al-Qaida fighters, their one-time allies.
A local tribal leader and Iraq's Defense Ministry have said followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, have begun fleeing Anbar province and Ramadi, its capital, to cities and mountain ranges near the Iranian border.
"So far we have cleared 75 percent of the province and forced al-Qaida terrorists to flee to nearby areas," said Osama al-Jadaan, a leader of the Karabila tribe, which has thousands of members living along the border with Syria.
He claimed his people have captured hundreds of foreigner fighters and handed them to authorities. The drive, dubbed Operation Tribal Chivalry, is designed to secure the country's borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to prevent foreign fighters from crossing in.
After the U.S. invasion in March 2003, residents of the province - which also includes cities like Fallujah, Haditha and Qaim - became known for their violent anti-American sentiments. The province is still the most dangerous in Iraq for U.S. troops. In the past two days alone, two U.S. Marines were killed by hostile fire there.
Relations between residents and the foreign fighters started to sour, however, when the foreigners started killing Iraqis suspected of having links to the Americans or even for holding a government job.
The rift became an outright split four months ago, with a wave of assassinations and bombings that killed scores of Anbar residents. The attacks were blamed on al-Qaida.
"We were fed up with the situation," said one Ramadi resident, complaining about closed roads, unemployment and a lack of security. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his life.
In late November, tribal and religious leaders, former army officers and hundreds of ordinary Iraqis met in Ramadi with U.S. military commanders for a first-ever comprehensive dialogue on what could be done to speed a U.S. withdrawal.
Afterward, gunmen began killing some of those who had met with the Americans or who had urged Sunnis in the region to vote in the U.S.-backed parliamentary elections on Dec. 15. Several top clerics and a tribal leader were killed.
The deadliest attack - a suicide bombing Jan. 5 among a line of police recruits in Ramadi - killed at least 58, including U.S. troops.
Stunned city residents turned on al-Qaida, and al-Jadaan, of the Karabila tribe, announced an agreement with the U.S.-backed Iraqi government to help with security.
The moves by al-Jadaan's men and Iraqi army units against al-Qaida forced many of the foreign fighters to flee to central and eastern areas of Iraq - some to the mountains near Iran - that have large Sunni populations, al-Jadaan said.
That prompted tribes in the central city of Hawija, where some al-Qaida fighters sought refuge, to issue a statement earlier this week openly declaring war on foreign al-Qaida members.
The declaration was prompted by the killing a week ago of tribal leader Suhaib Abdullah al-Obeidi. Al-Qaida also killed three Shiites - a father and his two sons - and a Communist Party boss.
"We are against the killing of civilians for sectarian or ethnic reasons. That's why we are shedding the blood of Muslim extremists, especially al-Qaida," said Abul-Rahman Mansheed, a top Sunni politician in Hawija.
Army Maj. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin, in the nearby city of Kirkuk, said the military soon would launch a major attack, with help from the local tribesmen, to clear that region of al-Qaida as well.
Claims such as those issued by the tribesmen and local military officers are nearly impossible to confirm, but the considerable drop in suicide bombings throughout the country recently indicates operations by al-Qaida foreigners have been hampered.
Al-Jadaan, the Anbar tribal leader, looked confidently to the future and - if his prediction comes true - what likely will be a hero's role in the eyes of the U.S. military.
"Under my leadership and that of our brothers in other tribes, we are getting close to the shelter of this terrorist," al-Jadaan said of al-Zarqawi. "We will capture him soon."

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/breaking_news/14059704.htm

 

[deaddude]

Good news I suppose. They still dont like us in particular, but at least they hate the terrorists more.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Good news I suppose. They still dont like us in particular, but at least they hate the terrorists more.

You suppose?

Is every positive utterance an inch off your manhood?

 

[deaddude]

No, but when it comes to people who a month ago were trying to kill us, suddenly becoming our allies, i remain cautious.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

No, but when it comes to people who a month ago were trying to kill us, suddenly becoming our allies, i remain cautious.

We're not saying "new allies"; we're saying "good news". Does this even qualify unquestionably as good news? How could it be bad or even neutral news?

 

[deaddude]

No it is good news. But it is not great news because these people still hate us, they just happen to hate the terrorists more. The enemy of my enemy is my freind, for the time being.

 

[Bonnie]

Good news I suppose. They still dont like us in particular, but at least they hate the terrorists more.

For now I guess we take what we can get? But if the tide keeps turning this way, it may signal the beginning of Iraqis' taking destiny into their own hands leaving us to get out of there sooner.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

No it is good news. But it is not great news because these people still hate us, they just happen to hate the terrorists more. The enemy of my enemy is my freind, for the time being.

Have you interviewed every iraqi personally? No? then stfu.

 

[deaddude]

Have you interviewed every liberal personally? The stfu with your lib generalizations.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Have you interviewed every liberal personally? The stfu with your lib generalizations.

DD, I hate to break it to you, but there are general patterns of belief and thinking that society accepts as being generally lib, and generally conserative. I'm sorry the accuracy of these generalizations confounds you.


Back to the issue at hand. You cannot say "the iraqis hate us". You haven't talked to them all. So again, I implore you, stfu.

 

[deaddude]

RWA, I hate to break it to you, but it is right there in the article that these Sunni Muslims were until recently allied with Al Quieda. Haveing these Sunnis (not all Iraqis) suddenly become our bosom buddies makes me uneasy. So yes I was generalizing about the Sunnis in the article. I'm sorry the accuracy of these generalizations confounds you.


you cannot say that libs hate America you haven't talked to them all. So again I implore you, (oh why abbrieviate) shut the fuck up.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

RWA, I hate to break it to you, but it is right there in the article that these Sunni Muslims were until recently allied with Al Quieda. Haveing these Sunnis (not all Iraqis) suddenly become our bosom buddies makes me uneasy. So yes I was generalizing about the Sunnis in the article. I'm sorry the accuracy of these generalizations confounds you.


you cannot say that libs hate America you haven't talked to them all. So again I implore you, (oh why abbrieviate) shut the fuck up.

You said "these people". I asked you about iraqis. Initially you didn''t say you only meant the sunnis. But now "out of the blue" you were only talking about sunnis. I smell a panicked backpedaller.


There are positions generally considered lib. Lib consistency with totalitarian, socialist dogma, is more a surety that Iraq hatred toward the U.S.

we all know you weren't ONLY talking about sunnis, you disingenuous banana seat sniffer.

 

[deaddude]

When I said "these people" I assumed it was pretty obvious that I was refering to the people in the article which this thread was created to discuss. I apologize to RWA and any other mentaly challenged person on this board for the slight ambiguity. Again my apologies.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

When I said "these people" I assumed it was pretty obvious that I was refering to the people in the article which this thread was created to discuss. I apologize to RWA and any other mentaly challenged person on this board for the slight ambiguity. Again my apologies.

So when I first referred to iraqis, why didn't you correct me then, instead of launching your inanity missile?

 

[deaddude]

Simply because I thought to address the absurdity of your argument saying tha unless I had interviewed every single Iraqi, that I was incapable of forming an oppinion on the Iraqi situation. Your mistake about who I was talking about seemed relativly unimportant by comparison.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Simply because I thought to address the absurdity of your argument saying tha unless I had interviewed every single Iraqi, that I was incapable of forming an oppinion on the Iraqi situation. Your mistake about who I was talking about seemed relativly unimportant by comparison.

SImply because it we they are hey calf wheat sombrero chaf anger flagrant martini harumph venome pistola

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Did you interview every sunni?

 

[dilloduck]

SImply because it we they are hey calf wheat sombrero chaf anger flagrant martini harumph venome pistola

easy on the Tequila there, amigo!

 

[ekrem]

No, but when it comes to people who a month ago were trying to kill us, suddenly becoming our allies, i remain cautious.

killing Al-Qaeda or throwing them out of regions, does not make Sunni your ally. Even when this action is in US interest. It is more of a self-interest.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

killing Al-Qaeda or throwing them out of regions, does not make Sunni your ally. Even when this action is in US interest. It is more of a self-interest.

democracy and individual rights are self interest as well, unlike dying for allah.