Posted on 03/25/2007 1:33:33 PM PDT by jmc1969
Not long ago it would have been unthinkable: a Sunni sheik allying himself publicly with American forces in a xenophobic city at the epicenter of Iraq's Sunni insurgency.
Today, there is no mistaking whose side Sheik al-Rishawi is on. Outside his walled home, a U.S. tank is on permanent guard beside a clutch of towering date palms and a protective dirt berm.
The 36-year-old sheik is leading a growing movement of Sunni tribesmen who have turned against al-Qaida-linked insurgents. The dramatic shift in alliances may have done more in a few months to ease daily street battles and undercut the insurgency here than American forces have achieved in years with arms.
``I was always against these terrorists,'' Sattar said in an interview inside his American-guarded compound, adjusting a pistol holstered around his waist. ``They brainwashed people into thinking Americans were against them. They said foreigners wanted to occupy our land and destroy our mosques. They told us, 'We'll wage a jihad. We'll help you defeat them.'''
The difficult part was convincing others it wasn't true, and that ``building an alliance with the Americans was the only solution,'' Sattar said. His movement, also known as the Anbar Awakening, now counts 41 tribes or sub-tribes, though Sattar acknowledges that some groups in the province have yet to join.
``I'd say 20 percent of the credit for the change in Ramadi could be taken by U.S. forces,'' said Strickland. ``The vast majority of the turnaround is due to the sheiks.''
Still, Sattar complained the Interior Ministry had given police ``one-tenth'' the resources they needed _ from equipment to guns to food, despite promises to do more. Some of the fighters use automatic weapons they brought from home. ``If I had the tools, I could wipe al-Qaida from Anbar within five months,'' Sattar said.
(Excerpt) Read more at kotv.com ...
They can't print this! That would mean the Americans are winning, that what they are doing is... (gasp) right!
I'm not sure how this will sit with "the only good muslim is a dead muslim" folks in FR.
``I was always against these terrorists,'' Sattar said in an interview inside his American-guarded compound, adjusting a pistol holstered around his waist."
don't worry, he'll go back to the other side when the tide changes..they switch sides over there so much it's almost a "who's on first" scenario..
Ping
Sattar is secular. I guess you don't just hate Muslims.
They have some good reason for not trusting todays muslims given the apparent inability for muslims to form a liberal democracy.
Ping
Thats crap. Sattar and many Iraqis believe in Iraqi democracy far more then most people in America it seems.
Shiek Sattar: "The time for dictatorship is gone, and we are welcoming the new dawn of democracy and freedom here. I expect the future to be much better for the next generation for they will live in a better world than we do today."
http://alphabetcity.blogspot.com/2007/03/video-shaykh-abdul-sattar-abureeshah.html
I trust shiek Sattar more then I do the Maliki government. He was criticising the terrorists in Fallujah in 2004 when Maliki was criticising the coalition attack on Fallujah.
==Thats crap. Sattar and many Iraqis believe in Iraqi democracy far more then most people in America it seems.
I wish them well. By this time I'm skeptical although when the war started I thought it was worth trying. I guess I still think it was worth trying.
Ain't that the truth!
They used to say "you can't buy an Afghan, but you can rent one."
It is pretty obvious that there are good people who are nominally Muslim, and some bad people who are nominally Christian. Once we can distingusih Dubai from Damascus we can proceed without killing everyone of a billion Muslims.
The only good Muslim is a rational Muslim
of course the only dood Christian is a rational Christian also
The best Muslim is a rational ally Muslim
Sattar paid a heavy price for criticising terrorists in 2004-2006.
"Sattar's father and three brothers were killed by al-Qaida assassins"
By giving Sattar the necessary weapons we could make him the leader of the Sunni community we have been waiting four years for.
I suspect a few of that bunch are actually Islamist provacateurs. If all Muslims are evil, why would we even be fighting in Iraq?
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