Posted on 11/16/2007 4:33:39 PM PST by Dog
BAGHDAD - An armed Sunni group has ended Al-Qaeda’s tight two-year grip on north Baghdad’s volatile Adhamiyah neighbourhood and is now in control, an AFP correspondent witnessed on Friday.
A local militia calling itself the “revolutionaries of Adhamiyah” took over the Sunni district on the east bank of the Tigris on November 10 in a swift and audacious raid that sent Al-Qaeda fleeing from its last stronghold in Baghdad.
On Friday, members of the “revolutionaries of Adhamiyah” controlled main roads into the neighbourhood as well the square housing the famous Abu Hanifa mosque where Saddam Hussein made his last public appearance before fleeing Baghdad in 2003 as US-led forces invaded the country.
A Sunni bastion encircled by Shiite districts, Adhamiyah had been one of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad, under the tight control of Al Qaeda “emirs”.
The AFP correspondent said the neighbourhood was calm with the streets taken over by men wearing dark grey shirts and toting light weapons, Kalashnikovs and machine guns.
There was no sign of any Iraqi police or soldiers as militiamen, most of them in their early twenties, manned makeshift checkpoints, demanding at gunpoint identification from all motorists and passersby.
They were operating without hindrance by the US military, who were patrolling the streets in armoured vehicles.
Occasional sporadic shots could be heard but despite the volatile atmosphere many traders opened their doors and the faithful went quietly to the Abu Hanifa mosque for Friday prayers, lending a semblance of normality to the district.
“We got rid of the groups of murderers who assassinated people in the streets with impunity”, the leader of the group, Abu Abed, told AFP at his headquarters in Adhamiya -- a disused library near the mosque.
“We, the sons of Adhamiyah, decided to fight the terrorists and to chase them out of our district,” said 35-year-old Abu Abed, a baby-faced man whose eyes were hidden by dark glasses.
Abu Abed said his group had seized control of Adhamiyah “in less than two hours” with only around 50 men in a “surprise attack” very early on November 10.
“The Al Qaeda fighters fled when they saw us and took refuge in the bazaar, and then in Kam (in the northern part of Adhamiyah). Thank God we overcame them and we now control the entire zone.”
Three Al Qaeda combatants were killed while 15 were taken prisoner and handed over to the Iraqi security forces, according to Abu Abed, who said only one of his group had died “as a martyr.”
“Our men seized 11 car bombs and discovered several clandestine bomb-making workshops,” said the chief of the “revolutionaries of Adhamiyah”, surrounded by armed bodyguards.
“We fought alone,” he stressed. “Nobody helped us -- neither government forces nor the American army.
“Our only support, material and moral, come from our brothers in the Sunni Endowment who provided us with money, weapons and ammunition,” added Abu Abed, referring to the body which manages Sunni religious sites across Iraq.
He said that the US military had offered to aid the group should there be a massive counter-attack by Al Qaeda, which so far had not occurred.
“We were 50 at the start, we now number more than 1,000. If God wants it, we will soon be 1,500
Ping.
It's a QUAGMIRE!!
I love the way Nancy is still falling back on her catch phrase, “President Bush’s failed Iraq policy”. It’s only a matter of time before we’ll hear, “just because we’re winning doesn’t mean the policy isn’t a failure”.
And as for the turn tail and run Dems who do not seem to know the difference between winning and losing...
This news from Baghdad is an example of “winning”.
Your most recent attempt at forcing the withdrawal of our Troops from Iraq is an example of “losing”.
I hope this helps.
One more thing to blame on Bush, I’d say. He’s made Iraq a boring place.
Amazing, Iraqis have been doing this for years and finally the Dincons are noticing!!!!
That is a common misnomer. For the real truth, read about the real hero quoted in my tagline on my profile page.
Ahmad Shah Massoud played roughly the same role as Chaing Kai Shek and the Nationalist Chinese. The Taliban played the role of the Communist Chinese.
During the war against Imperial Japan they had an illusionary alliance. During the war against the USSR, so did Massoud and the Taliban.
When Imperial Japan was defeated, Chaing Kai Shek was in charge for a short time while the Communists, largely unscathed by the war, collected the weapons and awaited their opportunity to take power against their real enemies, the Nationalists. That opportunity came when traitors in our own government seized control of foreign policy positions in the Truman administration and abandoned Chaing. In the resulting civil war, Chaing was defeated and the Communists seized control of China.
When the USSR was defeated, Massoud was in charge of Afghanistan. Like Chaing, he never gained the backing of congress and the State Department. The opportunity for the Taliban to launch a civil war and gain control of Afghanistan came when the Clintonistas seized full control of foreign policy in the 1992 elections. Massoud's followers had no Taiwan to flee to but did lose control of all Afghanistan except a small area in the north. Clinton holdovers in the Bush II administration were not enthusiastic about aiding Massoud's forces until 9-11 finally convinced even them that the Taliban were America's enemies, too. Sadly, it cost the life of Massoud plus 3000 innocent Americans to learn that lesson.
So the next time you hear that favorite liberal lie repeated that we created the Taliban (and, by extension, Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida) by backing them against the USSR under Reagan, remember this truth. It would serve us well if everyone in the State Department were fired at the earliest opportunity and forced to reapply for their jobs only after background checks and evaluations selected those few for rehire who genuinely put America's interests at heart. Right now, real Americans are unlikely to even be hired at the State Department.
It’s a QUAGMIRE!!
Somebody say Quagmire?
great news.
A Sunni bastion encircled by Shiite districts, Adhamiyah had been one of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad, under the tight control of Al Qaeda "emirs"....I wonder how long Shiite quiesence will continue.
Hey! I've heard about you on the news a lot, but I never actually see you here in my neighborhood. And yet, the news and the Dems insist that this is where you dwell. Are you sure you really exist? ;-)
Try to get some good pictures at the upcoming Baghdad Victory Parades for us. Thanks.
“So the next time you hear that favorite liberal lie repeated that we created the Taliban (and, by extension, Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida) by backing them against the USSR under Reagan, remember this truth.”
Thank you for the history correction on the Taliban.
Although, my use of that was an obviously flawed example, my basic thesis is still sound. That being, it is not good for one “gang of thugs” to overthrow another “gang of thugs.” At this time we indeed have a common enemy with this militia - Al Quaeda. However, just like Sadr’s militia is a rogue element, this new one could become one also.
Letting “militias” that don’t answer to the government run free is a bad idea. That isn’t a government, its anarchy.
The same kind you described that existed in China with various warlords vying for power.
March 2008, the official declaration of Victory.
Very soon Al Qaeda will be chased of all Iraq and by doing so our troops would have won the most important battle of the war on terror.
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