Monday, April 17, 2006
You Read It Here First
And perhaps only here. I'm not ready to call this story in the Telegraph a turning point, but it's not bad news. Money quotes:
But Sheikh Osama Jadaan's dislike of foreign occupation is nothing compared to his contempt for Iraq's other intruders - the foreign jihadists who have indiscriminately killed thousands of his countrymen. Now, in what coalition commanders hope will mark a turning of the tide against al-Qaeda in Iraq, he has become the first of the Sunni tribal leaders to declare war on the terrorists to whom, until now, they have given safe haven.
He is well-placed to do so - his al-Karabla tribe lives around the desert city of Al Qaim, near the Syrian border in Anbar province, the Sunni insurgents' stronghold.
Sheikh Jadaan's armed followers claim to have arrested and killed 300 would-be jihadis entering from Syria, many bound for service as suicide bombers with Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
I had to read the last paragraph twice before it sank in--"arrested and killed," not arrested, tried and executed. The Sheikh's primary reason is that the foreign jihadists target and kill civilians, which gives jihad a bad name (the secondary reason is that they don't attack the Americans often enough, so there is a little rough with the smooth here).
See if this is covered by the rapidly becoming irrelevant mainstream media in the US. I say it won't be widely covered and may only be mentioned on Brit Hume's grapevine segment.
UPDATE: No mention on the grapevine so far. 470 hits for the Sheikh's name on Google, almost all of which are links to the same story I linked to. So don't try to tell me that the buggy whip media goes out of its way to report the good news in Iraq, because good news like this just doesn't get reported widely. QED. 4/18/06 at 17:37
But Sheikh Osama Jadaan's dislike of foreign occupation is nothing compared to his contempt for Iraq's other intruders - the foreign jihadists who have indiscriminately killed thousands of his countrymen. Now, in what coalition commanders hope will mark a turning of the tide against al-Qaeda in Iraq, he has become the first of the Sunni tribal leaders to declare war on the terrorists to whom, until now, they have given safe haven.
He is well-placed to do so - his al-Karabla tribe lives around the desert city of Al Qaim, near the Syrian border in Anbar province, the Sunni insurgents' stronghold.
Sheikh Jadaan's armed followers claim to have arrested and killed 300 would-be jihadis entering from Syria, many bound for service as suicide bombers with Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
I had to read the last paragraph twice before it sank in--"arrested and killed," not arrested, tried and executed. The Sheikh's primary reason is that the foreign jihadists target and kill civilians, which gives jihad a bad name (the secondary reason is that they don't attack the Americans often enough, so there is a little rough with the smooth here).
See if this is covered by the rapidly becoming irrelevant mainstream media in the US. I say it won't be widely covered and may only be mentioned on Brit Hume's grapevine segment.
UPDATE: No mention on the grapevine so far. 470 hits for the Sheikh's name on Google, almost all of which are links to the same story I linked to. So don't try to tell me that the buggy whip media goes out of its way to report the good news in Iraq, because good news like this just doesn't get reported widely. QED. 4/18/06 at 17:37
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:31 AM 
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I knew of the internecine fighting of the jihadists long ago but did not see it covered on TV. Did you? and that they are executing prisoners makes them bad guys but I had already pegged the insurgents as bad guys. Hadn't you?
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