As Surge Begins To Take Hold, Tribal Leaders Turn on Qaeda

The NY Sun ^ | May 14 2007 | ELI LAKE

[ASC2006]

In the aftermath of America's recent troop surge in Iraq, tribal leaders throughout this country are turning on Al-Qaeda, and American military commanders are trying to exploit the new development by bringing tribe members into the Iraqi Security Forces.

"I see what I think is becoming a national trend, especially in areas influenced by Al-Qaeda, where they have made inroads, and even in places where you see other forms of religious extremism, such as Jaish al-Mahdi, you have it from the South. It's coming, it's there," Lieutenant Colonel Richard Welch said in an interview.

Despite the rising antipathy toward Al Qaeda, the tribal sheikhs in the Sunni regions in particular are very clear that their new alliance with the Americans is merely a tactical one. Sheikh Hussein summed it up: "We would like America, a friend, to rebuild the country. This is what we want, what the tribes want. But to stay here as a military force indefinitely is unacceptable." For Sheikh Hussein, however, the prospect of a speedy exit is also unacceptable. At a luncheon at a home of one of his cousins, he asked this reporter, "Please, tell the Democrats for now to stop pressuring Bush."

A Zobai leader, who asked to be anonymous in part because his compound has withstood assaults from rival sheikhs affiliated with Al-Qaeda, said he estimates that "98% of the people are now against Al-Qaeda. The people who followed them and became partisans of Al Qaeda, they are either naïve, they were seduced, or coerced, or deceived, and some were looking out for their own political interests. I can put a lot of people in the third class. We call them lewd gangsters," he said.

[SandRat]

FR WAR NEWS!

WAR News at Home and Abroad You'll Hear Nowhere Else!

All the News the MSM refuses to use!

Or if they do report it, without the anti-War Agenda Spin!

[RedCell]

The people who followed them and became partisans of Al Qaeda Democrats, they are either naïve, they were seduced, or coerced, or deceived, and some were looking out for their own political interests.

Fixed.

[Marine_Uncle]

Gotta in a few minutes hit the rack. work work work. heheh.
But surely the news coming out of Iraq is filled with encouraging jestures at this point, along with some hard line actions being taken against AQIR. History will show that zarkman was amoung the stupidest of the stupid. He pissed off millions of muslims.
I think it is fair to say that some Freepers do not realize Arabs are human beings. And they love their children and families as much as most other peoples do.
Sadly it has taken this long for so many Sunni to realize the US forces don't rape or kill their women and children.
But what the hell. It is better they finally are waking up, then to have them all still think we are there to take their country over and dominate them.
The Maliki government had better start doing a better job of public relations and informing all Iraqi that the US wants to leave them in a peacefull condtion with the end result of them learning how to take care of themselves in a new Iraq, free of bloodshed and dictatorship.
Even the stupidest of peoples can for the most part at a point realize they may have been wrong. Let us hope the majority of Iraqi see the deal on the table and get rid of the remaining resistors in all their forms. No different then what had to be done in Germany and Japan in this respect.
Guys like Togo where fanatics. They had to be hung from the pole to allow the people to move on to a new type society.
Time to hit the rack. Do have a great upcoming day.

[struggle]

Japan is the perfect comparison to Islam today. They believed that these hulking, hairy Americans were going to come to Japan, rape all the women, slaughter the men, and destroy 2000 years of culture. All of them were amazed at the civility and outright dignity and respect that the occupational forces had for the Japanese, and look at Japan 60 years later.

[Just Lori]

Sheikh Hussein summed it up: "We would like America, a friend, to rebuild the country. This is what we want, what the tribes want. But to stay here as a military force indefinitely is unacceptable." For Sheikh Hussein, however, the prospect of a speedy exit is also unacceptable. At a luncheon at a home of one of his cousins, he asked this reporter, "Please, tell the Democrats for now to stop pressuring Bush."

Someone PLEASE tell me this guy was misquoted!

[RichInOC]

SHEIKHS: HOW ARE YOU OSAMA!!
SHEIKHS: ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.
SHEIKHS: HA HA HA HA....

[beckysueb]

Just give us your money then get out. I wonder when we are going to tell people to start doing their own dirty work.

[Chaguito]

"Please, tell the Democrats for now to stop pressuring Bush."

The sheik's cousin can't vote in the US, so why would the democrats stop pressuring Bush on his request? /s

[Man50D]

he estimates that "98% of the people are now against Al-Qaeda.

The 2% who support Al-Qaeda are the socialist Democrats.

[Kaslin]

Ping

[TomasUSMC]

Japan is the perfect comparison to Islam today

---

True but the America of today would have lost to Japan and Germany. They would not have nuked Japan, they would not have FORCED Japan to accept a AMERICAN STYLE Constitution written by AMERICANS.

Instead today our President is afraid of Iran, while Iran kills our troops and we continue to force our troops to prop up a government whose constitution states: “NO LAW SHALL CONTRADICT ISLAM”.

[TomasUSMC]

“We would like America, a friend, to rebuild the country. This is what we want, what the tribes want. But to stay here as a military force indefinitely is unacceptable.” For Sheikh Hussein, however, the prospect of a speedy exit is also unacceptable.

---

Hey Sheikh Hussein, rebuild it yourself.

[Marine_Uncle]

Precisely. And a similiar thing can happen in Iraq. If radical Islam can be held down to a minimum, the country can turn around. And there are a hell of a lot of Iraqi that are not really radical by nature by all looks of things.