Interview with Sunni coalition

[rodeodance]

US not having significant effect in Anbar; tribes united against US; defeating occupation is goal; tribes have reached accommodation with Al Qaeda; tribes working with US not a factor (in other words, "Go ahead, work with US; get what you can; but give no meaningful help to US"


http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark /

AJ: Ibrahim Shammari (Islamic Army of Iraq)

Al-Jazeera just aired a half-hour interview with Ibrahim al-Shammari, spokesman of the Islamic Army of Iraq (which is one of the largest of the "nationalist-jihadist" Sunni insurgency factions). I'd been seeing discussions about the interview in the Iraqi-oriented forums for a couple of days before it aired, suggesting considerable interest in what the IAI would have to say about the Crocker-Petraeus report. I'm not sure when it was recorded, but no mention was made of the murder of Sattar Abu Risha, so if I had to guess I'd say it was done September 12- after the Congressional hearings but before the assassination. I didn't notice any particular innovations in his discourse, but it's worth pointing out his major arguments and themes.