A bit of speculation here......but buried in some of the reports on the fighting there is indication that the locals are not happy about the uninvited guests and are fighting with them,.,,,
So I wonder if a tribe said to the imported insurgents....let him go or we will take up arms and fight you instead of the Americans....
Another hint here:
Daily Terrorist Round-up 5/15/05 (al-Libbi was turned in by the Uzbeks)
we have:
The BBC's Jim Muir, in Baghdad, says the operation appears to have exacerbated tribal tensions in the area, with clashes reported in the nearby town of al-Qaim
I agree, that's just what I was thinking. This is a very key area being on the border with Syria. al Q may not have wanted to PO the locals.
They kidnapped this guy, didn't get what they wanted for him, and decided it was better to let him go than get in a blood feud with the West Elbonian Tribe across their main supply lines.
One of those 'we may never know' things, but funny how some folks want to assume the worst.
Take out the foreigners, and get half the Sunnis to come to the table...that leaves the most radical leftovers even more isolated.(and vulnerable) Divide and Conquer.
I don' t think the insurgency is as large as it likes to make itself out to be. For one thing, they've had atrocious losses during the two years since the liberation. US losses have been in excess of 1500 killed, which means the terrorists have lost at least that many, and undoubtedly a multiple of that figure.
The attack in western Iraq came as a huge surprise to the bastards, and they were slaughtered. They were not, alas, exterminated though, but the world knows now that Zarqawi A) is in western Iraq, somewhere, and B) that Syria is lending the most support for the terrorists, and of course providing the land ingress for recruits.