Beheading Iraqis: Not Al Qaeda's Brightest Idea

What happens when you try to bomb and behead your way into the hearts and minds of a country?

In the case of Iraq, you get Osama bin Laden criticizing his followers. In a public forum. And, more to the point, a lot of angry, determined, Iraqi sheiks.

Taking a look at what doesn't make the headlines, it's obvious that American leaders and the rest of the coalition have much less time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat than headlines suggest.

The commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team-6, Colonel Richard Simcock, recently said, "... we get all sorts of congressional visitors who are looking for the 'Anbar' story, and let me tell you what I tell them: we are winning, but we have not yet won." [emphasis is mine]

Colonel Simcock made that statement in "Interview with Col. Richard Simcock," on military.com: ("Benefiting the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard").

The Iraq he described, at least Fallujah and the rest of the Anbar Province, is not the bomb-ravaged, fanatic-infested, America-hating, hopeless case that we've heard so much about.

The Iraqis he deals with sound a lot like most of the people I know, here in America:

"Q -- What do the local citizens want -- either from their mayor or from us?
A -- They want the same things in Fallujah as we have in America; health care, education, and technology. They want good schools, markets with food and stuff to buy, along with electricity to run their computers, air conditioners, and businesses."

The assassination of Sheik Sattar Abu Rishi (also Latinized as Sheik Sattar Abu Risha) had an effect: but not the one Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) intended.

Colonel Simcock said, "... they are not intimidated. They saw it as a very tragic event.

"It had the opposite effect that AQI wanted. AQI's message was “Look what happens when you work with the Americans, you wind up dead.” That is not what I am getting from the sheiks that I work with in AO Raleigh, it is just the opposite. They are saddened, but they are angry and makes them work with more energy to get to the same end state that we are trying to reach."

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I strongly recommend reading all of "Interview with Col. Richard Simcock." Particularly if you've just heard the latest car bombing scores.

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Doing research for this post, I ran into some unfamiliar acronyms used by the American military, and their definitions, from mytroops.com and michaeltotten.com:

AQI	Al Qaeda in Iraq
AO	Area of Operations
IA	Iraqi Army
IP	Iraqi Police
ISF	Iraqi Security Forces
MiTT	Military Transition Team

Stressed-Out by Iraq? You're Not the Only One

Different people react differently to stress, and the war on terror has stressed quite a few people, one way or another.

"Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators" marched in Washington D.C., and had a die-in. Their chant made their desire clear: "What do we want? Troops out. When do we want it? Now."

One of the peace movement's stars, Cindy Sheehan, addressed the multitude. "It's time to lay our bodies on the line and say we've had enough," she said. "It's time to shut this city down."

There were some U.S. veterans at the march and die-in, including 25-year-old Justin Cliburn. "We're occupying a people who do not want us there," he said about Iraq.

I saw a reporter interviewing one of the die-iners. It was like a scene one of those old 'grandson of Dracula's nephew's cousin' movies, except the blood-stained ersatz corpse was in bright sunlight. In answer to the reporter's question, she said that U.S. soldiers are dying 'for nothing, for no reason.' I wouldn't swear to those being the exact words, but it's a close paraphrase.

Meanwhile, over in southern Iraq, the Migasees tribe's leader in Wasit province, Sheik Majid Tahir, has his own interests in the country. He says tribal leaders in Iraq have talked about creating an American-trained brigade of Iraqis. The brigades' purpose would be to help local security and help patrol the Iranian border.

Although Iraqi politics at the national level impress me no more than that of the American Congress, I admire the courage of Iraqis at the local and regional level.

Faced with the death of one of Iraq's leaders, Sheik Majid Tahir said that the assassination of Abu Risha increased the resolve of Shiite tribal leaders. "The death of Sheik Abu Risha will not thwart us," he said. "What matters to us is Iraq and its safety."

Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha pulled 25 Sunni Arab clans together, and organized them as the Anbar Awakening Council. The Council's purpose was to oppose Al Qaeda, and run terrorists out of sanctuaries where they had flourished after 2003 the U.S.-led invasion.

Abu Risha was killed on Thursday, September 13, 2007, when a roadside bomb near his house exploded. It was the first day of Ramadan.

Al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq claimed credit for the assassination on Friday. Allah enabled your brothers ... to track down and assassinate the imam of infidelity and apostasy ... one of the dogs of (U.S. President George W.) Bush," the Web statement said.

It's going to be interesting, seeing who makes the most difference: Sheik Majid Tahir; Al Qaeda, or Cindy Sheehan and company.

Related posts, on Individuals and the War on Terror.