Sunni sheik assassinated in Baghdad

[bemildred]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A prominent Sunni Arab tribal leader who provided fighters to help battle al-Qaida in western
Iraq was assassinated Sunday in Baghdad, police said.

Sheik Osama al-Jadaan died in a hail of bullets as he was driving in the city's Mansour district, police Lt. Maitham Abdul Razzaq said. Al-Jadaan's driver and a bodyguard also were killed.

Al-Jadaan, a leader of the Karabila tribe, announced an agreement with the U.S.-backed Iraqi government to help track down al-Qaida members and foreign fighters along the border with
Syria.

U.S. troops used al-Jadaan's followers to track down insurgents living under the protection of a rival tribe in Qaim and in a cluster of nearby towns that U.S. officials said was a staging area for smuggling weapons, ammunition and fighters into Iraq.

Yahoo

[acmavm]

1. Well george, things seem to be hoppin' in Iraq this today, and not in

a 'good' way either.

I'd truly like to hear someone turn all the deaths just from this weekend into good news.

[wicket]

2. kick

:kick:

[The Magistrate]

3. And Just Who Killed Him, Sir, Makes A Pretty Puzzle

It could as easily have been his tribal enemies or smuggling gangs as nationalist Sunni or jihadi insurgents, and even Shia shooters must be considered a possibilty....

"What a world, what a world...."

[bemildred]

5. I'd wager on the fellows he informed on.

Perhaps with the assistance of some third party to carry out the attack. But you are right, like a number of other politicians past & present, hearing them killed with no information as to the perpetrators, one is presented with a vast field of plausible speculations ...

[The Magistrate]

6. That Would Be The Favorite, Sir

But who he informed on must remain subject to uncertainty. Whether they were really al Queda or foreign fighters, or smuggling rivals or old tribal enemies he told some bright-eyed young Intelligence captain were al Queda, seems to me an open question. Our officers he informed to, being ignorant of the language and customs, hardly have any way to check the information they are given, and are wholly in the hands of their informants, and the informants know this.

"At the end of the fight
is a tombstone white
with the name of the late deceased
And an epitaph drear:
A fool lies here
Who tried to hustle the East"

[Marie26]

7. And who's going to inform

about the US about militants now? No one who wants to stay alive. W/o informants, & w/o any real understanding of the local customs & language to investigate ourselves, we've got no way of stopping the insurgency.

[MaineDem]

4. Well, this can't be good... n/t