http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/07/penhaul.iraq/index.html So, what does this mean for the insurrgency? Has AlQaeda really bitten the hand that fed it to the point that they are losing popular support? Is this just a case of various insurrgent groups jockeying for power and feeding each other to the sharks for an eventual post-occupation Iraq? is it just the Iraqi people are fed up with being blown up by their neighbors in the name of liberation from the Americans? And what does this mean to the Americans? What happens if the Iraqis say enough is enough to the insurrgents and the violence stops, especially before the 2008 election?
[Hollywood Elite]Yer just a troop on the ground. If you were smart enough to know anything, you wouldn't have joined the Army. You don't know anything. Richard Belzer knows more about what's going on than you![/Hollywood Elite]
I like seeing good news. On a minor note, how can there be a "rift" in an insurgency that has always been composed of at least 5 warring factions?
Well before different factions all had some common ground when it came to the U.S. Now it seems some of these groups have ceased operations against Americans to focus their attention on Al Queda. Some of them are working in conjuction with us. It may not be a "rift" but it's an alteration in the local politics.
Thankfully it looks like what I was hoping would pan out would. We had a company formation this morning where the BC came and gave us a brief about our upcoming mission and new AO (one of the good things about the biggest bad asses is that you get writen up in an article on AKO saying you are the most badass Batt since WWII, the downside is you get tapped to clean up everyone elses mess. When I leave here I'll have spent more time away from my FOB doing other people's shit than on it). It's a mixed sunni shia city of about 300K. Although before it all went down it was around 50/50 the government and IP are all Shia. The sunnis were not cooperative with either us or the government. However since the 'Sunni Awakening' (first time I've heard the term used but he threw it out like it was a universally known term) not only have the Sunnis rose up against Al Queda, but they have also put 300 fighters under the command of the U.S. After working with them and finding them damn competent (most are ex-loyalists and former Army) the battlespace owners put 100 through a 10 day training course, put them in IP uniforms and put them on the beat in their neighborhoods. Now personally I would prefer for the Iraqi Government to be reaching out to the Sunnis, but if we have to do it, then we have to do it. I don't see how finally haveing some sunnis on the police force can hurt the situation. On the downside out BC doesn't yet know the uniform situation and how the battlespace owners deferentiat the good guys from the bad. He promises to get us that info before we head out. Which would be good b/c it is our to kill anyone armed and ununiformed.
^ What you say there is good news, but illustrates once again the folly of disbanding the old Iraqi army after the overthrow of Saddam. It seems like they are the guys who could have brought order to the place.
