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Iraq's Insurgents 'Seek Exit Strategy'
Financial Times ^ | March 25 2005 | Steve Negus

Posted on 03/25/2005 2:06:57 PM PST by West Coast Conservative

Many of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician.

Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq's main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election.

“Firstly, they want to ensure their own security,” says Sharif Ali, who last week hosted a pan-Sunni conference attended by tribal sheikhs and other local leaders speaking on behalf of the insurgents.

Insurgent leaders fear coming out into the open to talk for fear of being targeted by US military or Iraqi security forces' raids, he said.

Sharif Ali distinguishes many Sunni insurgents, whom he says took up arms in reaction to the invasive raids in search of Ba'athist leaders and other “humiliations” soon after the 2003 war, from the radical jihadist branch associated with Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Unlike Mr Zarqawi's followers, who are thought to be responsible for the big suicide bomb attacks on Iraqi civilian targets, the other Sunni insurgents are more likely to plant bombs and carry out ambushes against security forces and US troops active near their homes.

Sharif Ali said the success of Iraq's elections dealt the insurgents a demoralising blow, prompting them to consider the need to enter the political process.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: exitstrategy; iraq; iraqiinsurgency; sunni; terrorism; wariniraq; waronterror
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1 posted on 03/25/2005 2:06:57 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
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To: West Coast Conservative

I like the strategy we've been using. Kill the bastards.


2 posted on 03/25/2005 2:08:39 PM PST by pissant
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To: TexKat; Gucho; blackie; MEG33

ping Thank you


3 posted on 03/25/2005 2:09:06 PM PST by anonymoussierra ("Et iube me venire ad te, ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te in saecula saeculorum. Amen.")
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To: pissant

Seems to be working pretty good so far.


4 posted on 03/25/2005 2:10:49 PM PST by Prince Caspian (Don't ask if it's risky... Ask if the reward is worth the risk)
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To: pissant
Yep. We find them, kill them, and they EXIT. Works for me!
5 posted on 03/25/2005 2:12:07 PM PST by hiredhand (Pudge the Indestructible Kitty lives at http://www.justonemorefarm.com)
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To: West Coast Conservative
“Firstly, they want to ensure their own security,” says Sharif Ali

They blow up old women on street corners, but now they want somebody to look out for “their own security.”

Cowardly pricks.

6 posted on 03/25/2005 2:13:20 PM PST by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: anonymoussierra

Hang 'em High!


7 posted on 03/25/2005 2:13:40 PM PST by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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To: West Coast Conservative
Unlike Mr Zarqawi's followers, who are thought to be responsible for the big suicide bomb attacks on Iraqi civilian targets, the other Sunni insurgents are more likely to plant bombs and carry out ambushes against security forces and US troops active near their homes.

These harmless little fuzz-ball Baathist dead-enders are not like those terrorists. They just plant teeny-tiny, hardly-worth-mentioning car bombs. More like firecrackers than real bombs, they are. I'm sure the Financial Times would not mind having one of these bombs go off in the lobby of their building, even. It might damage the paint, but surely nobody would get hurt!

8 posted on 03/25/2005 2:14:13 PM PST by gridlock (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
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To: West Coast Conservative

It depends on their records. If they've spent years torturing and murdering people, then it's not a good bet that the friends and families of their victims will give them a free pardon.


9 posted on 03/25/2005 2:15:29 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: West Coast Conservative
...Strategery

"Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, in Texas we call it 'walking'."

10 posted on 03/25/2005 2:15:41 PM PST by Donald Rumsfeld Fan ("Memos on Bush Are Fake but Accurate". NYTimes)
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To: West Coast Conservative

I don't get this at all. If the rank-and-file slink back home and stop attacking people, who will find them? The few leaders who are known to us (except Zarqawi) can easily negotiate a settlement by turning in the weapons and agreeing to stay out of trouble.

This whole article makes no sense to me.


11 posted on 03/25/2005 2:18:28 PM PST by Rocky
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To: pissant
Exactly. The more the better. Dead bodies don't resurface to kill our troops. Screw 'em--pile them up like firewood. Our guys are showing them what a real jihad looks like...
12 posted on 03/25/2005 2:20:57 PM PST by Czar (StillFedUptotheTeeth@Washington)
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To: Rocky
I think what they're really after is amnesty. A declaration, say, from the new government that no matter how many innocent civilians they blew up, nothing will be done to them.

It means the heat's on. The decision is the Iraqis', of course. And they don't seem to be in a forgiving mood, at least at the moment. Too much blood, too many bodies.

13 posted on 03/25/2005 2:21:45 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: West Coast Conservative
Someone notify Senator Kennedy.
14 posted on 03/25/2005 2:23:07 PM PST by elhombrelibre (Hezbollah will disarm before we see Kerry sign his SF 180,)
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To: West Coast Conservative

"ormer officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election."

Bwhahahahahahhahahahahaha!!!


15 posted on 03/25/2005 2:23:42 PM PST by oldcomputerguy
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To: oldcomputerguy

I know, they can join the political process in Algeria.


16 posted on 03/25/2005 2:25:55 PM PST by oldcomputerguy
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To: West Coast Conservative
Insurgent leaders fear coming out into the open to talk for fear of being targeted by US military or Iraqi security forces' raids, he said.

No, no, don't be afraid. Come on out...you don't even have to put down your guns (heheheh).

17 posted on 03/25/2005 2:26:52 PM PST by Bahbah
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To: West Coast Conservative

Those insurgents seemed to have found themselves in a genuine "quagmire."


18 posted on 03/25/2005 2:27:11 PM PST by Radix (I could go on and on.........)
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To: pissant

Exactly. When your opponent is on his heels it is the perfect time to strike harder. As he begins to doubt himself and questions his cuase, up the levy and make the cost even higher. The only way to quell a guerilla opponent is to demoralize him.

I think you have to systematically remove his reasons for fighting. Make it very costly to excercise his options. By having the elections, we made their cause functionally obsolete. We need to make it clear now more than ever that we are coming to kill you if you continue to resist. The AKs will go back in the mud huts and they will integrate into society once again. That is the Baathists anyway. The Islamists are rabid killers, monsters who saw heads off in the name of their god. These vermin should simply be exterminated.


19 posted on 03/25/2005 2:27:37 PM PST by ChinaThreat
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To: Radix

They can seek asylum in France....


20 posted on 03/25/2005 2:28:30 PM PST by Joe 6-pack
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