Puppy-blender Glen links to this awesome news item:
US delight as Iraqi rebels turn their guns on al-Qa'edaEmphasis mine. This is cool beyond belief -- there are definitely two groups operating in Iraq, there are the locals who were supporting Saddam and benefited from that support. There are also the non-Iraqi theocratic medievalists who are coming into Iraq hoping to get a piece of the Great Satan. These are the suicide bombers and the "insurgents" you hear about in the MSM. They are being supported by the Bank of Saudi Arabia plus lots of EU Charitable Organizations. Their leaders want a theocratic despotic rule and are willing to sacrifice their followers to get this. The leaders advocate a spartan lifestyle while they live in luxury. The locals however are seeing that #1) - we are not taking the country over, rather, we are doing all that we can to make sure it stays in Iraqi hands and #2) - this "Democracy" thing has some tangible advantages and it might be something to check out -- hence the Sheikhs lunch with the Marines. The fact that this is happening in Husaybah which is near the Syrian border is awesome. Nail that border shut and we will stop the "insurgency". I still want to know what was in that three-day convey from Iraq into Syria just before we started in. WMD's? Here is the contents of one tanker truck:
American troops on the Syrian border are enjoying a battle they have long waited to see - a clash between foreign al-Qa'eda fighters and Iraqi insurgents.
Tribal leaders in Husaybah are attacking followers of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born terrorist who established the town as an entry point for al-Qa'eda jihadists being smuggled into the country.
The reason, the US military believes, is frustration at the heavy-handed approach of the foreigners, who have kidnapped and assassinated local leaders and imposed a strict Islamic code.
Fighting, which could be clearly heard at night over the weekend, first broke out in May when as many as 50 mortar rounds were fired across the city. But, to the surprise of the American garrison, this time it was not the target.
If a shell landed near the US base, "they'd adjust their fire and not shoot at us", Lt Col Tim Mundy said. "They shot at each other."
The trigger was the assassination of a tribal sheikh, from the Sulaiman tribe, ordered by Zarqawi for inviting senior US marines for lunch. American troops gained an insight into the measures the jihadists had imposed during recent house-to-house searches in nearby towns and villages.
