Most Tribes in Anbar Agree to Unite Against Insurgents

[ECH1969]

Nearly all the tribes from Iraq’s volatile Sunni-dominated Anbar Province have agreed to join forces and fight Al Qaeda insurgents and other foreign-backed “terrorists,” an influential tribal leader said Sunday. Iraqi government leaders encouraged the movement.

Twenty-five of about 31 tribes in Anbar, a vast, mostly desert region that stretches westward from Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, have united against insurgents and gangs that are “killing people for no reason,” said the tribal leader, Sheik Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi.

“We held a meeting earlier and agreed to fight those who call themselves mujahadeen,” Mr. Rishawi said in an interview. “We believe that there is a conspiracy against our Iraqi people. Those terrorists claimed that they are fighters working on liberating Iraq, but they turned out to be killers. Now all the people are fed up and have turned against them.”

“We are in battle with the terrorists who kill Sunnis and Shiites, and we do not respect anyone between us who talks in a sectarian sense,” said Mr. Rishawi, the leader of the Rishawi tribe, a subset of the Dulaimi tribe, the largest in Anbar. Half the Rishawi are Shiite Arabs and half are Sunni, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/world/middleeast/18iraq.html?ex=1158724800&en=f63c0d6c8d89b9c9&ei=5087%0A

[IA_Seth]

1. Good news for a change....

This sounds great, at least as it is presented. Let's all hope that this is true and that this works. Perhaps more provinces will follow suit and take one more excuse from Bush for "staying the course".

[maddezmom]

2. this has been denied by some

~snip~

Also Sunday, tribal leaders in Anbar province denied news reports that local chieftains had gathered recently and agreed to join forces to fight al-Qaida.

‘‘All the talk and rumors that you may hear about alliances or new initiatives to wipe out al-Qaida by the tribes in Anbar is all pure nonsense,’’ said Sheik Faraj Khalid Essawi. ‘‘We wish that we could build a strong tribal alliance against al-Qaida to defeat them and re-establish security in our area and rebuild the dignity and the stature of the tribal sheiks. But frankly, we are unable to stand or to confront al-Qaida because even the American army itself has not succeed in defeating it.’’

Sheik Hamad Mishaan al-Fahadawi, a senior leader of the Albu Fahad, one of the biggest tribes in Ramadi, said: ‘‘The American army has confiscated all the weapons of the tribesmen. We have nothing but shotguns. So how can we fight Al-Qaida?’’ Also Sunday, the U.S. military also announced that a sailor assigned to the 1st Marine Logistics Group died Saturday from combat injuries in Anbar province. No other details were released.

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2006/09/18/newsnationworld_top/20060918_newsnationworld_top.txt

[Igel]

7. That's a bad sign.

When Arabs whine and exaggerate their impotence, it's face saving and they're begging off doing something they don't want to do for some reason. Maybe they might lose; maybe they like AQ and don't want to be seen liking AQ; maybe they don't trust their allies. Whatever. They can still complain, though.

"There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets."

[dkofos]

3. Better late than never

Where has this guy been for the last two years??

[Pirate Smile]

4. Good news. It sounds like the work of the Special Forces will hopefully

being paying off now.

I certainly hope so.

[Ignacio Upton]

12. We should follow the Murtha plan of phased withdrawal

And support the Sunni tribesmen in al-Anbar by proxy, like we did with supporting the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan against the Taliban and Al Qaida.

[SOS]

5. This line is intriguing

"Mr. Rishawi estimated that the insurgents had about 1,300 fighters, many of them foreigners, and are backed by other nations’ intelligence services, though he declined to specify them."

Declined to specify a state sponsor of terrorism?

The Bush gang doesn't want the public to know the answer, but it's easy to guess.

The hypocrisy is astounding.

[enigma000]

6. I thought there were no foreign fighters in Iraq n/t

[Igel]

8. Yes, he should have said.

There's a very good chance he'd have said "Israel". Or the US.

Must have the targets of one's xenophobia clearly in mind, otherwise one might think the suicide bombers were actually Muslims killing Muslims. Killing non-Muslims isn't much of a problem, but killing Muslims ... fitna? That's a no-no.

[FormerDem06]

13. Its pretty obvious to me...

It's Iran plain and simple. Where do you think the Taliban are getting rearmament and these guys as well. Iran, it's not hard, they have a rapture to cook up as well.

[keopeli]

9. can you say KOOL-AID? Oh yeah! Obvious propoganda piece, this is.

No facts.
No proof.
No backup.
Just some guy who says whatever he's been told to say.

[jpak]

10. If the US withdrew from Iraq, the Iraqis would kill all AQ within days

Mission Accomplished

[Ignacio Upton]

11. The Anbar Tribesmen and the Shiite radicals will drive out Al Qaida

Unfortunately, we'll be left with Al-Sadr after Bin Laden's denizens are destroyed.

[oncall247]

14. Well it's about time.

What took them so long? The "foreign insurgents" are killing off the manpower and military strength of both the Sunnis and the Shiites.