"Awful Insurgents" as opposed to, um, Minutemen

Michael Yon: It's not about Sunnis versus Shia in Iraq

Blogger and combat journalist Michael Yon sends this from his email from Iraq (via Instapundit):

Iraqis have told me many times that the larger part of this war is not about religion. Fanatical groups such as al Qaeda surely have wreaked havoc, but a huge part of the war is about business, influence and resources. The American Commanding General, David Petraeus, has said repeatedly that money is ammunition in this war. The meetings I attend with local leaders around Iraq are never about religion. Religion is seldom if ever brought up. The meetings are about security, electricity, jobs, water projects. The meetings often are about influence, and politics fit for a novel.

Live from Baghdad: More Sunnis revolting against the "insurgency"

Omar Fadhil reports:

Al-Sabah reported today that “some community leaders in Adhamiya [a Sunni stronghold in Baghdad] are working on forming a salvation council for their own district they will be calling The Adhamiya Awakening. Sources close to the leaders said they (the leaders) have managed to win the support of some hundred people who agree with the new position. The sources asserted that the goal of the Awakening is to rid Adhamiya of the terrorists.”

Last but not least I’d like you to read this story “Iraqi artists find canvas in the cruel concrete of war”. Those brave artists are risking their lives to simply offer fellow Baghdadis a glimmer of hope, something beautiful to look at and remember that not everything about their life is dark. Remember that those artists are standing on both sides of Blast Walls. It’s this kind of spirit that helps me and other Baghdadis remain hopeful.“Wild horses couldn’t drag me away. / Wild, wild horses. We’ll ride them some day.”

Gen. Petraeus calls Iraqi insurgency the "most complex" he's ever seen

Iraqslogger reports on what Gen. David Petraeus told a Pentagon press conference on Thursday.

In response to questions about Iranian and Syrian involvement in Iraq, Iraqslogger writes:

While focusing a great deal of attention on possible Iranian involvement in driving extremist activities, Petreaus carefully delineated between the kinds of activities of the Shi'ite, Sadr-affilited Khazalis, who focus the bulk of their attacks on US forces, and the al Qaeda-affiliated foreigners, the majority of whom, he said, perpetrate the "spectacular" attacks, usually car bombs or suicide attacks with civilian or otherwise very public targets. Those groups, he said, rely on an al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist network to assist their transportation to the battlefield, usually crossing the border into Iraq through Syria.

Though reluctant to give any specific numbers, Petreaus roughly estimated that "dozens" of foreign fighters cross into Iraq from Syria every month. Later in the press conference, when confirming that there was no evidence of any Iranian involvement in the "spectacular" bombings attacks, Petraeus said of the bombers in those incidents: "80-90% of those are foreigners coming in through Syria."

Even more Sunnis turning against al Qaeda in Iraq

From today's Washington Post:

In the Sunni heartland of Anbar and other provinces, Sunni groups are accusing al-Qaeda in Iraq of killing, kidnapping and torturing dozens of their fighters, clerics and followers.

Alaa Makki, a Sunni member of parliament who reportedly has close ties to the insurgents told the Post: "They have realized that those people are not working for Iraq's interests. They realized that their operations might destroy Iraq altogether."

But according to the Post's own sources inside the Iraqi insurgency:

Insurgent leaders, in interviews in person or by telephone, offered different explanations for their split. Many said their link to the al-Qaeda groups was tainting their image as a nationalist resistance force. Others said they no longer wanted to be tools of the foreign fighters who lead al-Qaeda. Their war, they insist, is against only the U.S. forces, to pressure them to depart Iraq.

"We do not want to kill the Sunni people nor displace the innocent Shia, and what the al-Qaeda organization is doing is contradictory to Islam," said Abu Marwan, a religious leader of the Mujaheddin Army in Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad. "We will strike whoever violates the boundaries of God, whether al-Qaeda or the Americans."

..."Al-Qaeda has killed more Iraqi Sunnis in Anbar province during the past month than the soldiers of the American occupation have killed within three months. People are tired of the torture," said Abu Mohammad al-Salmani, an Islamic Army commander.... "We cannot keep silent anymore."

In a letter addressed to al Qaeda and written by one such Sunni group, al Qaeda is accused of "killing innocent people with gases like chlorine." The group also objected to the "Taliban-like" Islamic codes al Qaeda was trying to impose on Iraqis in the areas under its control.

Some Sunni leaders are now even blaming al Qaeda for the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. As Khalid Awad, a commander of the Jamiat Brigades, another insurgent group in Anbar, reportedly told the Post: "We must confess that if it was not for al-Qaeda, neither Iraq nor Afghanistan would have been occupied. For al-Qaeda has awakened the American ogre against the Islamic nation after the September 11th events, and it is still causing disasters."

Some Sunni groups are now urging uniting in order to better fight Al Qaeda. As the Post reports:

"If they do not unite, they will be weakened," Mutlaq said. "Then al-Qaeda will manage to make their Islamic state in Iraq, and it will be a sad day for the country and the world."

What are the chances the Democrats and the Republicans, not to mention Iraq's neighbors, will follow the Sunnis' lead?

Iraqi kids: If you see an "insurgent" run!

Iraqi Kids (7), originally uploaded by adamhenning.

See post below for details.

Iraqi 'insurgents" hit new low

Now they're reportedly buying - and even kidnapping - mentally retarded kids, to use in combat operations.

IRIN, a UN humanitarian news agency via Iraqslogger, profiles one such 13-year-old mentally handicapped child who was allegedly sold by his father to al Qaeda for $10,000:

“I don’t have a mother and never went to school. I was dreaming of a day that I would go to school like my other brothers, but I was considered different. My father was always telling me that I was a mistake in his life, a boy that was just bringing expenses and problems,” Barak [not his real name] said.

From al Qaeda's point of view, they're just doing this kid a favor. As IRIN reports:

"We're giving him the chance to be useful and not suffer daily beatings from his father. Here, with us, he gets Islamic lessons and is soon going to be a good fighter and maybe one day even become a suicide bomber in the name of God,” Abu Ahmed [who claims to be a spokesman for al Qaeda] said.

According to IRIN, this is by no means the first time a mentally handicapped child has been used by insurgents in Iraq:

“Some children were given by their families but many others were kidnapped by insurgents when they knew that those children had mental problems. Some of them were even taken from the doors of their houses or schools,” the NGO’s spokesperson said.

[...In one such case,] nine-year-old Saleh Ahmed (not his real name) said he was forced to help insurgents after they forced their way into his home and threatened to kill his mother and sisters if his father did not hand him over. “They told me to say that I’m happy working with them but it's not true. I want to go back home and stay with my mother,” Saleh told IRIN in privacy. When his trainer, Abu Ahmed, returned to the room, Saleh changed his tune and said he was happy to fight US forces and would die to save his country.

The bottom line on Iraq

This New York Times video featuring the inestimable John Burns on the situation in Iraq is a must-watch.

Baghdad seems to be getting safer but Sunni attacks increase March's death toll in Iraq

The AFP reports:

The monthly death toll in Iraq rose 15 percent in March, an official revealed Sunday, as insurgents and sectarian militias continue to defy a military crackdown in Baghdad.

While the AFP uses the generic "sectarian militias" in its lede, further down in the story one realizes that Shiite militia attacks are significantly down. It was Sunni-style car bombings that increased March's death toll by 272 from February and the highest casualty attacks mostly occurred outside of Baghdad.

The AFP writes:

Middle East analyst Joost Hiltermann of Brussels-based think-tank, the International Crisis Group, told AFP the [Shiite] militia was deliberately "lying low".

"This is in the interest of the Mahdi Army. The Mahdi Army, realising that in the longer term the Americans will leave and they will prevail, is very happy if the United States go after the (Sunni) insurgents," he said.

While most of the casualties were civilians, 85 US military personnel were among the dead - almost twice the number of Iraqi security forces killed even though Iraqi forces are supposed to be increasingly leading the charge, so to speak.

Another Sunni tribe joins the fight against al Qaeda in Iraq

Zeyad Kasim at Iraqslogger posted this news today:

Sot Al-Iraq reports ongoing clashes between Zoba’ tribesmen and insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Iraq or the Islamic State of Iraq in Abu Ghraib, Al-Zaidan and Amiriyat Al-Fallujah west of Baghdad. The clashes were in response to the assassination attempt against Deputy Prime Minister Salam Al-Zobai, who is a member of the tribe, several days ago and a failed assassination attempt against a Zoba’ tribal leader in Mosul yesterday.

Again Al Qaeda missed their mark, but they did manage to kill the tribal leader's 24-year-old son. As if this wasn't enough, as Kasim goes on to report:

Local sources and the state-run Al-Iraqiya TV reported that two suicide bombers attacked the residence of another Zoba’ tribal leader at Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad this morning. The attacks targeted Sheikh Dhahir Al-Dhari, a cousin of Sheikh Harith Al-Dhari, the head of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq.

Now why if all the violence in Iraq is related to sectarian differences are we seeing these clashes between the Sunni tribals and their coreligionists and why would Al-Dhari have recently joined the Anbar Salvation Council against Al-Qaeda in Iraq? As Kasim reports, up to recently, the Zoha' tribe had "strongly supported the Sunni-led insurgency against the U.S."

Could the tide be turning in Iraq?

Popular misperceptions about Iraq?

Jay Nordlinger, in the NRO, pokes some holes in popular perceptions:

The conventional line is that this is a Sunni-Shiite civil war; but the news pages often tell us that it’s a war by terrorists on any and all wanting a decent life.

As an example of a story that doesn't fit into this narrative, Nordlinger cites the case of the attempted assassination of Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zubaieas on Saturday.

If Iraq has truly descended into a sectarian civil war, why then, as Nordlinger points out, were Al-Zubaieas' would-be assassins not Shiite? Shouldn't they have been given that he is the ranking Sunni leader in the Iraqi goverment?

So why do you think his would-be assassins turned out to be his fellow Sunnis? Yes,that's right, the folks at Al Qaeda. In addition to seriously wounding the Deputy PM, they killed nine people in the car bombing timed to go off while the men were praying. Among the dead was al-Zubaieas' brother.

This news clearly took Nordinger's breath away:

I have said it before, and must say it again: Those who serve in the Iraqi government are among the bravest people in the world. They are constantly ducking murder, and their loved ones are having to do the same. But these officials get nothing but grief, from all quarters. They should really have our gratitude and admiration, whatever the mistakes they have made.

Then there is the myth of the noble insurgents in Iraq, those who are only resisting occupation as the conventional thinking would have it. But as Nordlinger points out, these noble insurgents, who he calls terrorists are, to quote him, "[now] using children in their suicide bombings — leaving them in the backseats of cars, to be blown to bits, along with other innocents." As Nordlinger asks:

What does it take to awaken the world at large to the nature of this enemy? A lot, apparently. Many people in this country are convinced that George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Al Gonzales are the enemy. One should be so lucky.

And, by the way, above, I should have said “terrorists in Iraq,” rather than “Iraqi terrorists.” The terrorists in that country are as likely as not to be foreign — fighting one, everywhere jihad.

Deputy PM of Iraq critically wounded in apparent assassination attempt

The New York Times reports:

Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie was seriously wounded today when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a hall behind Mr. Zobaie’s house, where the deputy prime minister was attending prayers.

Four people were killed in the blasts and ten people were wounded. The Mr. Zobaie was taken to a U.S. military hospital in the Green Zone for emergency surgery. His condition had not been stabilized by the time the report was issued.

As the Times notes:

Mr. Zobaie is one of two deputy prime ministers and is the highest ranking Sunni Arab in the government. His party, the Accordance Front is the main Sunni Arab grouping in the Shiite-led national unity coalition.

Insurgents have frequently tried to kill leaders of the American-backed Iraqi government. Last month, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi. a Shiite, was wounded by shrapnel when a bomb killed six people inside the public works ministry.

John Howard: Why a timed withdrawal won't work in Iraq

Australian Prime Minister John Howard explains to Parliament House Down Under why Australia must stay the course in Iraq. His whole speech is worth reading, but here are some key excerpts:

For the record, let me state clearly why I believe a timetable for premature withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq would invite disastrous strategic and humanitarian consequences.

First, it would undercut the forces of moderation in Iraq at the precise moment when they have a chance – perhaps the last chance – to stabilise their country. Sectarian violence would escalate, with the Sunnis abandoning the unity government and parliament.

Second, it would lead to more widespread and extreme human rights abuses, more internally displaced Iraqi civilians and further outflow of refugees to neighbouring states.

Third, a precipitate withdrawal would give a green light to those looking to make Iraq a platform for global terror. With Al Qaeda and other extremists claiming withdrawal as a victory, this would likely inspire more terrorism outside Iraq, including in South East Asia. Iraq is undeniably a frontline in the fight against international terrorism. The terrorists view it as such.

Fourth, it would further destabilise what is already the world's most unstable region, perhaps igniting a wider war in the Middle East. Any prospect of resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict would lie in tatters.

And fifth, it would be a crushing blow to America's global leadership, emboldening those who, like Osama Bin Laden, have argued all along that America is a "weak horse" on which no one should depend.

...As such, it may be clever politics to portray Afghanistan as the 'good war' and Iraq as the 'bad war', but it is a position cloaked in folly.

Why is it right that Australia and its allies prevail in Afghanistan but fail in Iraq? Why is it okay for Iraq to become a safe haven for global terror but not Afghanistan?

Why is building Afghanistan's security capability more compelling than building Iraq's? And why is a massive setback to American global leadership fine in one place but not in another?

...The Opposition's current position on Iraq is that the conflict is a civil war, requiring solely a political solution. Labor argues that the key to that political solution is a 'staged' withdrawal of Australian and US military forces to create pressure for the Sunni and the Shia to reach a political accommodation.

In my view, both the analysis and the policy prescription are fundamentally flawed. Success in Iraq requires both a military and a political strategy, each reinforcing the other.

Sectarian violence in Iraq is clearly a major problem. But despite being put under enormous pressure neither the Iraqi Army nor the national government have split along sectarian lines. That really would be a disaster, and it is this disaster that our strategy seeks to avert.

...We will be able to leave Iraq. But we cannot do so responsibly until we have some confidence that the Iraqi security forces are in a position to defend Iraq'sdemocratically-elected government and the Iraqi people, whether from terrorists, insurgents or sectarian strife.

An open Sunni war against Al Qaeda in Iraq?

On Saturday, Omar at Iraq the Model blogged from Baghdad:

With this series of dirty chemical bombings a war between al-Qaeda and the tribes in Anbar is no longer a possibility. It just became a fact...

Al-Qaeda's terrorists-whom AP insists on calling insurgents-expended three suicide bombers and precious resources against their supposedly sympathetic civilian Sunni hosts instead of American and Iraqi soldiers and Shia civilians; their usual enemies....

The reason: al-Qaeda is sensing a serious threat in the change of attitude of the tribes toward them...

The tribes in Anbar are stubborn and they have many ruthless warriors. That's a proven fact and it looks like Al-Qaeda had just made their gravest mistake—their once best friends are just about to become their worst enemy.

And then yesterday, Omar followed up with this report:

The Al-bu Issa tribes in Amiriyat al-Fallujah, backed by local police and the MNF, clashed today with members of the al-Qaeda linked “Islamic State in Iraq” terror organization, according to al-Hurra TV. The battles that are still ongoing have so far left 39 terrorists killed including the “ministers of oil and war” of the terror organization. Six policemen and 11 tribal fighters were also killed during the fighting.

Maybe it's not so great living in the Islamic State in Iraq run by Al Qaeda after all.

Isn't it time we stopped using the word insurgency?

Courtesy of MSNBC

To describe these kinds of attacks? AS MSNBC reports:

Insurgents killed 112 Shiite pilgrims streaming to the holy city of Kerbala in attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, including more than 70 after suicide bombers blew themselves up in a street lined with tents.

"Insurgents" by most traditional definitions are supposed to confine themselves to attacking military and government installations. Attacking Shiite pilgrims just doesn't meet that standard.