US Commanders Smoking Crack Say Iraqi Citizens Turning Against Insurgents

[NNN0LHI]

The insurgents are the Iraq citizens.

Don

Aug 27, 2007
BY Carmen L. Gleason and Sgt. Sara Wood, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON (American Forces Press Service, Aug. 27, 2007) - Iraqis who once aligned themselves with militants are now taking up arms against al Qaeda, a top commander in the Iraqi capital said during a conference call Aug. 24.

Likening members of terrorist organizations to "street gangsters," Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander of Multinational Division Baghdad and 1st Cavalry Division, said Iraqis are becoming tired of price gouging on staples such as gasoline and ice when militant groups move in and take over neighborhoods.

"We have found that throughout the city there is increasing distrust, fatigue and disillusionment by the population with al Qaeda and Jaysh al-Mahdi (militia group)," he said. "There is a strong desire in the neighborhoods to turn away from them."

Maj. Gen. Fil said coalition troops are continuing to take away the enemy's ability to control neighborhoods and to brutalize the population.

"Every day we're working with Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi government to place power back in the legitimate hands of the average Iraqi civilian," the general said.

[shadowknows69]

1. There's the insurgency and then there's the Vichy.