Sunni leaders press insurgents to fight US forces, not Iraqis

[Rose Siding]

BAGHDAD -- Religious, tribal, and political leaders in the Sunni heartland say they are encouraging Iraqi insurgents to fight on, but to focus on attacking US troops and stop killing Iraqi civilians and security forces.

Many of the leaders also warned that they would permit their followers in the national resistance to join attacks against the interim Iraqi government if Prime Minister Iyad Allawi does not take concrete steps to wrest control over security from the United States.

Two clerics, four clan leaders, and a leading politician also said in recent interviews that the domestic national resistance has split with a separate movement of what they called terrorists. The leaders defined as terrorists those foreign and Iraqi fighters responsible for suicide bombings and attacks on civilians and Iraqi security services, tactics that they said alienate the Iraqi public and unnecessarily provoke the United States.

"The effective resistance to drive out the occupation is the one which coordinates its power against the occupier exclusively and avoids all civilians -- Muslim and non-Muslim, Arab and non-Arab," Sheik Ahmad Abed al-Gafoor al-Samarrae said after an intense Friday-morning sermon earlier this month in which he exhorted Iraqis to unite against the US occupation that he said continues in practice, if not in name.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2004/07/24/sunni_leaders_press_insurgents_to_fight_us_forces_not_iraqis/

[Rowdyboy]

1. Thanks....this story is well worth the time if you're interested in how

Iraq is falling apart. Thanks for the link.

[Rose Siding]

2. Even Doud's writing about this today

sort of (big picture)

snip>
The commissioners warn that the price for the Bush bullies' attention deficit disorder could be high: "If, for example, Iraq becomes a failed state, it will go to the top of the list of places that are breeding grounds for attacks against Americans at home. Similarly, if we are paying insufficient attention to Afghanistan, the rule of the Taliban or warlords and narcotraffickers may re-emerge and its countryside could once again offer refuge to Al Qaeda, or its successor."

And, if that's not ominous enough, consider this: "The problem is that Al Qaeda represents an ideological movement, not a finite group of people. It initiates and inspires, even if it no longer directs."

"Yet killing or capturing" Osama, the report says, "while extremely important, would not end terror. His message of inspiration to a new generation of terrorists would continue."

If the Bush crowd hadn't been besotted with the idea of smoking Saddam, they could have stomped Osama in Tora Bora. Now it's too late. Al Qaeda has become a state of mind.

http://nytimes.com/2004/07/25/opinion/25dowd.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=

Imagine if they all start doing this.

[acmavm]

3. Great job George!

n/t

[amber dog democrat]

4. Once again, Bush proves to be a UNITER

This war will be his undoing.

[lottie244]

5. The insurgents should insist that Iraqi fight with them instead of the US

Once this is done, the US will get out of Iraq.