We didn't leave...show me a news report that said we have withdrawn from the area..
" I'd speculate that this "governor" is now under extreme "interest" of US Forces - He has been playing both sides if I had to make a guess - (he isn't alive because these thugs are turning weak, he is alive because he is in bed with them in some way or another). Just my take as of now -"
I suspect you are right. We tend to forget this area has been known well before OIF I happened to harbor quite un-savary characters who often defied Saddam to an extent. Drug and contraband smuggling routes are long known to be the norm through the northern Al Anbar region. There are on ly those few main n/s, e/w roads and railsystem in this whole upper region of mostly mineing towns (yellow cake uranium and phosphate mines etc.). Deals go down. The gov surely turned his back as foreign insurgents for the past two years have freely moved to a fro. I wouldn't be the least surprised if his kidnapping was not arrange so that it keeped him from any possible personal harm while the battles raged in those towns and hamlets (huts made of dung).
Anyway. 24/7 ops continue un-abated in the region.