Anbar Shiek Cited By McCain Was Assassinated Last Year

[ErinBerin84]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/23/anbar-shiek-cited-by-mcca_n_114581.html

Anbar Shiek Cited By McCain Was Assassinated Last Year



The major Sunni sheik who John McCain said was protected by the surge and subsequently helped lead the Anbar Awakening, was actually assassinated by an al-Qaeda led group in midst of the surge.

On Tuesday evening, McCain falsely claimed that the downturn in violence in Iraq's Anbar province was a result of the surge, when in fact the surge began months afterward. Moreover, he said, if it weren't for the work of U.S. forces, the major Sunni figure leading that awakening wouldn't have had the protection he needed.

"Colonel MacFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks," said the Senator. "Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening."

Sadly, such wasn't the case. In September 2007, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, the sheik widely credited with persuading Sunni leaders to turn against al Qaeda in Iraq, died in a bomb attack in Anbar. His work, prior to then, was held as a major effort in transforming the province from one of Iraq's deadliest areas into one of its safest.

It was in a September 2006 interview with UPI, when U.S. Army Col. Sean MacFarland first spoke about Sattar's efforts. "Some of the sheikhs have begun to step forward and some of the insurgent groups began to fight against al Qaeda," he said. His reference was Sattar, according to a Reuters article published upon the sheik's death.


snip

[ellacott]

1. Oh my goodness

Let's see how much press this gets.

[PA Democrat]

2. OOPS, he did it again....

[featherman]

3. Yet another McCain blunder for the MSM to ignore!

[Whisp]

11. can't upset the old man now, that would be mean. nt

[BOSSHOG]

4. Ignorance is charming to conservatives

Its really fucking hilarious to them when a republican candidate fucks up. No big deal to conservatives.

I use george dubya bush as exhibit number one.

[Peregrine Took]

20. Reassuring, too, so they can feel "smarter" than someone.

[ProSense]

5. Gaffer McBlunder strikes again. n/t

[Barack_America]

15. Indeed. "Gaffer" is to McCain as "Gipper" was to Reagan.

What a moran.

[TexasObserver]

6. Sunni sheik McCain said protected by surge was assassinated al-Qaeda during the surge.

I wonder if our media will address that the way they did Rev. Wright.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

7. Anbar awakener gets the big sleep

while McCain struggles with an upside down microphone.

[Cha]

8. And didn't katie couric know that, either..

to question him on? Or did she just accept anything mccain said?

[jillan]

9. We need Biden, Kerry, Clark or someone of that stature come out and make this public.

[ellacott]

10. Yes

[polichick]

17. All three together!!!

[Barack_America]

12. Isn't McCain the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee?

How the hell doesn't he know this stuff?

This is both frightening and hilarious.

[Labors of Hercules]

13. Does anybody remember when newspeople actually went out and FOUND stories???

Because I don't.

[ErinBerin84]

18. seriously.

And meanwhile, Joe Scarborough gets to defend McCain and say that "liberal bloggers" are people who live in their parent's basements, rub cheetos all over themselves, and don't have a clue about Anbar Awakening. Um, it's called REPORTING, jack ass. It requires RESEARCH. These are the only people doing the real reporting these days.


I hope KO covers this tonight...I know that it won't be covered anywhere else, but it just serves as my therapy.

[ProSense]

14. John McCain

blunder machine (these aren't gaffes).

[tekisui]

16. Here is a pic of his "kiss of death"

It didn’t take long for the facts on the ground to overtake the rhetoric. The great success of Anbar - recruiting our former enemies the Sunni tribal leaders - was quickly tempered by the assassination of Bush’s and Petraeus’ ally, Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Risha.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://ceasefireiraq.org/&h=312&w=468&sz=170&hl=en&start=20&um=1&tbnid=ZsGBZ1p69kZKmM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3DAbdul%2BSattar%2BAbu%2BRisha%2Bbush%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

[libnnc]

19. Someone should make a drinking game outta this.

Every time Grandpa screws up, take a shot.

[RoyGBiv]

25. Can't ...

Too dangerous. This guy apparently tried it, and look what happened to him.

BY VINAYA SAKSENA

LINCOLN — A North Providence man was arraigned Tuesday on charges stemming from an accident he allegedly caused while driving with what the State Police say is the highest blood alcohol count in the agency’s history.

According to information released by the State Police, 34-year-old Stanley Kobierowski of 29 Campbell Avenue, North Providence, was arrested in Providence on Monday, July 21, after police responded to an accident on Route 95 at approximately 11:51 p.m. He was arraigned the following day on charges of driving while intoxicated, BAC of 0.15 or greater and resisting arrest, and was then released on $1,000 personal recognizance, according to State Police Major Steven G. O’Donnell. His BAC readings were 0.489 and 0.491, the State Police said.

http://www.pawtuckettimes.com/content/view/39826/1/

[Eric J in MN]

21. Nice work by Sam Stein.

I didn't like Sam Stein's article during the primary which twisted Hillary Clinton's words into telling poor whites to screw themselves, but he did good with this article.

[berni_mccoy]

22. It's A DOUBLE GAFFED McCain Cookie!

[progressoid]

23. Oh you liberals with your details and facts and stuff.

[wmbrew0206]

24. The article the OP cited isn't exactly accurate

Sheik Sittar was killed about a year after the Awakening had started and after his main area of influence, Ramadi, had been pacified. The article makes it seem that he was killed as a result of the battle for his area rather than a single successful assassination attack.

Ramadi proper, defined as bounded by the Euphrates River on the north, the river canal that leads to Lake Hab on the West, the Railroad tracks to the South, and the Agriculture College on the east, was cleared in mid-March 2007. After April, there was not one IED, VBIED, or Complex attack inside Ramadi proper until 2008, which to that point had been the capital of AQI in Al Anbar. The battle for Ramadi was essentially over by June. AQI tried to infiltrate back into the city several times but failed each time, most notably during the battle of Donkey Island on June 30th (see links at the bottom). AQI did have one successful attack when they sent two SVBIED to destroy the Route 1 bridges (one each direction) that crossed over the Euphrates river canal. One SVBIED detonated taking out the west bound bridge. They other SVBIED did not detonate when the driver changed his mind. The other driver later said these trucks were rigged to blow a hundred kilometers south of the city. There were other attempts by AQI to get VBIEDs into the city but they failed. The bottom line is Ramadi was stabilized by June of 2007.

Sittar was killed on the first day of Ramadan in 2007 which was in mid-September, by an IED located just inside of his compound. Sittar, whose compound is located across Route 1 from the main US base in Ramadi, Camp Ramadi, was walking out to his stables when the IED went off. There was a guard post within 100 meters of where the IED went off. While AQI claimed credit, there were reports that another Sunni Sheik, who came from a large and more prestigious tribe then Sittar and considered him an upstart and a rival, had ordered Sittar killed and allowed AQI to claim credit.

So while yes, Sittar was killed during the time frame of the Surge, he was killed by an insider several months after his area had stabilized.

Link for info on the Battle of Donkey Island:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/18/AR2007081801270.html?hpid=topnews