U.S. battles al-Qaida in west Baghdad

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

U.S. battles al-Qaida in west Baghdad

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writers
44 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Iraqi and U.S. troops fanned out in a devastated Sunni
neighborhood in Baghdad on Friday, residents said, adding they were
holed up in their houses under a curfew that was imposed to restore
calm after days of internal fighting between insurgent groups.

Northeast of Baghdad, an al-Qaida-linked suicide bomber blew himself
up Friday in a house sheltering members of the rival 1920 Revolution
Brigades, killing two of the other militants and wounding four in the
strife-ridden city of Baqouba, police said.

The developments were the latest in an apparently growing Sunni
insurgent power struggle as U.S. and Iraqi officials try to isolate
the terror network by turning other militant groups and tribal leaders
against it. The tactic has proven relatively successful in the western
Anbar province, once considered the heartland of the Sunni insurgency,
and Washington and the Iraqi government are trying to replicate it
elsewhere.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070601/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. There is no "al Qaeda" in Iraq

There is an "al Qaeda in Iraq," but it's not the same group as bin Laden's.

[LynnTheDem]

6. STOP THAT!!!

We will NOT confuse Good Americans by allowing FACT to be spoken of!

[Roland99]

13. The term "al-Qaida" is used several times as FACT within that article

with absolutely NOTHING backing up that claim!!

What HORRID writing!!

[TheLastMohican]

2. Those are probably native Iraqis

Al qaeda is inserted there to spice up the message.

[BushOut06]

14. Arab-looking people with guns = Al Qaeda

At least in the minds of the * administration. Most likely, they know damned well that there is no "Al Qaeda" - yet they've created such an efficient boogeyman, they just can't bear to part with it.

[ohio2007]

17. I doubt they are local tribesmen native to Iraq

The man who might save Iraq

BAGHDAD - He is a former Sunni Arab mujahid from Ramadi who until recently was fighting the US occupation. He has only a secondary education and is married with two wives. Now he is praised even by urban, secular, highly educated Shi'ites as a "conscious man", or "the kind of man we need now in Iraq". Sheikh Abdul Satter Abu Risha is the leader of the Anbar Sovereignty Council, a powerful coalition of Anbar tribes, including at least 200 sheikhs, that is fighting the Salafi jihadis of al-Qaeda in Iraq/the Islamic

-snip-

"I'd like to see an al-Qaeda bomber e-mail me or telephone me and talk about his education.
They just came here with money.
They gave money to the unemployed.
They are not Iraqis - only Arabs.

They are bastards. And the people who follow them are also bastards."

-snip-
The Sunni Arab resistance in Iraq is at least 100,000-strong. Salafi jihadis, mostly foreigners - from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Palestine, North Africa, and a few "white Moors" (European Muslims) - may be no more than 1,000. And a small percentage of these are Iraqi recruits.

-snip-

Abu Risha certainly has political aspirations. "If the government is weak, they should move aside and leave space for other, prepared people."
The sheikh wants to set up a tribal political coalition, which would be called "Revivals of the Sheikhs of Iraq". Now the Anbar Sovereignty Council has even changed its name to "Iraq Awakening". It plans to take government matters into its own hands, and distribute food rations to the population of Anbar province.


-snip-
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IE05Ak01.html

Long story short, tribal leaders want more authority and they may be waking up to the fact certain hard core fundies want to rule over them and are killing them in the process.
The 'fighters' wore out and abused the Arab tribal hospitality customs of these people. We should all hope this movement prevails as there is no other exit out of Iraq for us. No magic wand in '09 that go 'poof'....all is well in the world now. Only the grass roots movements forming in Iraq's triangle of death now can get us to downsize in a few years.

[Screwfly]

3. Geez

That last paragraph makes it sound like they view the people of Iraq as rats in some kind of weird ass experiment.

[bemildred]

4. Any time you see a story with "apparently growing", or other similarly

illiterate english constructions, you know you are reading PR babble.

[Eugene]

5. Rival Sunni militants in Baghdad power struggle

Source: Reuters

Rival Sunni militants in Baghdad power struggle
01 Jun 2007 13:49:55 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Mussab Al-Khairalla

BAGHDAD, June 1 (Reuters) - Residents of a Baghdad district cowered
inside their homes on Friday, too afraid to go into the streets where
al Qaeda militants and rival Sunni Arab insurgents have fought fierce
battles in the past two days.

It is the first time open warfare has erupted in the streets of Baghdad
as a result of growing tensions between al Qaeda and other Sunni
insurgent groups in western Anbar province, the main stronghold of
Sunni insurgents.

The fighting comes despite a major crackdown by thousands of U.S.
and Iraqi troops in the capital aimed at quelling sectarian violence
between Shi'ite Muslims and Sunni Arabs that has raised the spectre
of civil war.

Militants from the al Qaeda-led Islamic State in Iraq and the Islamic
Army of Iraq, which is mainly driven by ex-army officers and supporters
of the Baath party of executed former president Saddam Hussein, are
fighting for control of Amiriya.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL145552.htm

[maddezmom]

7. Sunni neighborhood under curfew after two days of violence

Associated Press - June 1, 2007 10:13 AM ET

BAGHDAD (AP) - A Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad is in shambles after suspected al-Qaida gunmen clashed with US troops and residents.

A local council member says at least 31 people are dead, including six al-Qaida militants. But no official numbers have been released.

People remain holed up in their homes under a curfew meant to quell the violence that has raged for the past two days.

Some residents in the neighborhood say the al-Qaida militants kidnapped and tortured Sunnis. That prompted a large number of residents to rise up against the terror network.


more;http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=6597656&nav=menu118_3

[bemildred]

8. Isn't that the neighborhood we put the wall around to "protect" them? nt

[maddezmom]

11. that was one of them, I think there were more than a few

[coalition_unwilling]

9. I envision this like the final devastating scene in Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" -n/t

[Doctor_J]

10. Are they carrying Al-Qaeda ID?

If not, how do the propagandists know?

[acmavm]

12. They don't know. But it sure is one hell of a good excuse for

anything that happens.

I wonder how young as Quaeda starts to recruit. Because those little kids and babies that die in these raids, are they members too???

[maddezmom]

15. Gunmen kill Qaeda leader in Fallujah

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Unidentified gunmen shot dead the Al-Qaeda militant group's leader in the western Iraq city of Fallujah on Saturday, police said, as fighting between rival Sunni factions continued.

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.

Dulaimi described the slain Al-Qaeda leader as an Iraqi from Fallujah.

A police capitain, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Militants riding in two civilian cars opened fire on al-Jugheifi and his group on Saturday morning as they left the Abu Ayyub al-Ansari mosque."

more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070602/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestfallujahqaeda_070602101222

[Kyad06]

16. These rival militia groups only agree on one thing

They ALL hate The United States invaders.

[ohio2007]

18. I heard a radio report that anti'AQ grafitti was painted on a wall in an AQ stronghold neighborhood

....when certain people showed up to clean it off,
know what happened to them ? ..... they were ambushed

thats fighting dirty imo.

Talk about keeping an anti AQ message in place, they will think twice about removing the writing on the wall

of course, they can always bait children and kidnapped victims into doing the dirty work to counter it but if enough graffitti is everywhere, it will be mission impossible as
the pen is mightier than the sword