[Atlantic Friend]

I'll have to beef up my Iraqi geography, but isn't Fallujah in a zone where we could use Kurds or Northern Alliance troops ?

[Justa]

Fallujah, is west of Baghdad, like 40 miles. It has nothing but agriculture. The Sunni triangle has little or no oil. Iraq's oil is in the North (Kurds) and the South (Shiites). There are many Syrian, Lebanese, etc. foreign Jihadis in the Fallujah area. They breath life into the dead Iraqi Ba'athist party. Imo, they believe the Ba'ath party of Syria may be able to restore the Ba'ath party of Iraq. But it is a pipe dream. The Kurds and Shiites would simply break-away if the Ba'athists took over the center of the country.

My guess is these attacks are done by foreign Jihadis, probably Syrians. The Sunnis have nothing but the hope of a central government and what they receive from it, yet they imperil it by their actions which will only embolden the independence wishes of the two other ethinc populations in the country which have Iraq's oil, the Kurds and the Shiites.

Imo the Syrian Ba'athists' plan is to drive the Americans out, take over central Iraq, move against the Kurds (for their oil) and deal with the Shiites in the south as best they can.

The Iranians in the south have a different plan, that is to take over the area, deal with either the Coalition or the Sunnis in the north as best they can and administer their area as a Shiite provence of Iran. In short, Syria wants the norther oil fields and Iran wants the southern oilfields. The 'Sunni triangle' is the Syrians' entry point and base of operations so they want the coalition out to increase their control. They have a long way to go and the 1st MEF to deal with. The Shiites otoh are wary of the Syrians, Ba'athists and the Sunnis altogether so for the time being, prefer the Coalition's presence.

Just my impression.