Tag Archives: Sunni

Turn of the screw for al Q

Posted on September 22, 2006 | Comments Off on Turn of the screw for al Q

"Coalition forces in Iraq have suddenly received the manpower equivalent of three light infantry divisions…and now have a huge edge over al-Qaeda in al-Anbar province. How did this happen? Tribal leaders in the largely Sunni province on the Syrian border got together and signed an agreement to raise a tribal force of 30,000 fighters to take on foreign fighters and terrorists," reports StrategyPage.com.

"These leaders have thrown in with the central government in Baghdad. This is a decisive blow to al Qaeda, which has been desperately trying to fight off an Iraqi government that is getting stronger by the week. Not only are the 30,000 fighters going to provide more manpower, but these tribal fighters know the province much better than American troops – or the foreign fighters fighting for al Qaeda. Also, this represents just over 80 percent of the tribes in al-Anbar province now backing the government."

Via Instapundit 

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Posted in Iraq, The War

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Bush unfiltered

Posted on September 6, 2006 | Comments Off on Bush unfiltered

It’s always best to read the president’s speeches in transcript, via the White House. Then the only filtering comes from the reader’s own politics, instead of several other political sensibilities and layers of partisan "context."

An excerpt from this lengthy, but engaging "national strategy" of the war, before the Military Officers Association of America:

"Just as we must take the words of the Sunni extremists seriously, we must take the words of the Shia extremists seriously. Listen to the words of Hezbollah’s leader, the terrorist Nasrallah, who has declared his hatred of America. He says, ‘Let the entire world hear me. Our hostility to the Great Satan [America] is absolute… Regardless of how the world has changed after 11 September, Death to America will remain our reverberating and powerful slogan: Death to America.’"

Well, that was a while ago, back in the days when Nas felt safe enough to come out his bunker. I suppose when the Israeli blockade ends, and no more F-16s with Stars of David on their wings are flying over Lebanon, he’ll emerge from his hidey hole once again and let us hear more of his wit. 

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Posted in The War

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