“the head of the Dulaim tribe,”
You might want to look up the history of this one and grade the statements accordingly...
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By August 14, 2005 7:36 AM
"We have had enough of his nonsense. We don't accept that a non-Iraqi should try to enforce his control over Iraqis, regardless of their sect -- whether Sunnis, Shiites, Arabs or Kurds.''
- Sheik Ahmad Khanjar, leader of the Sunni Albu Ali clan, referring to Abu Musab al Zarqawi
Red-on-red incidents between al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents are nothing new in Anbar province. We saw numerous instances of this when al Qaeda attempted to impose its will on the Sunnis in Qaim along the Syrian border. However the Washington Post provides a new twist to the internecine warfare between the foreign jihadis and local Sunni fighters. Sunnis have taken up arms against al Qaeda to protect their Shiite neighbors [hat tip Rantburg]. In Ramadi.
Rising up against insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, Iraqi Sunni Muslims in Ramadi fought with grenade launchers and automatic weapons Saturday to defend their Shiite neighbors against a bid to drive them from the western city, Sunni leaders and Shiite residents said. The fighting came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of six American soldiers.Dozens of Sunni members of the Dulaimi tribe stablished cordons around Shiite homes, and Sunni men battled followers of Zarqawi, a Jordanian, for an hour Saturday morning [note - Omar states this is Iraq's largest tribe]. The clashes killed five of Zarqawi's guerrillas and two tribal fighters, residents and hospital workers said. Zarqawi loyalists pulled out of two contested neighborhoods in pickup trucks stripped of license plates, witnesses said [note – to put it more plainly, al Qaeda had to run away!].
The leaders of four of Iraq's Sunni tribes had rallied their fighters in response to warnings posted in mosques by followers of Zarqawi.
The article may simply be stating his authority over the portion of this tribe that resides in current al Anbar primarily, with the acknowledgment parts of the tribe, in it’s totality are scattered over much of the Arabian peninsula dating back to the days Joktan, a descendant of Shem (first son of Noah) of the fourth generation