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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Zark promises not to fight Tater |
| 2005-09-20 |
| Al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq says it will not attack Shi'ite groups, including that of maverick cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which have opposed US and Iraqi military operations in northern Iraq. Iraq's al-Qaeda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, last week declared a war on Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq in response to a US-Iraqi government offensive on the rebel town of Tal Afar, considered a stronghold of the country's Sunni-led insurgency. "It has become known to our group that some sects, such as the Sadr group ... and others, have not taken part in the massacres and not helped the occupier," the group said in a statement posted on an Islamist website often used by al-Qaeda. "So we have decided not to hurt these groups in any way, as long as they do not strike us," it added. The statement named six Shi'ite and Kurdish groups in the US-backed government or supporting it, and said it would continue to target them. The authenticity of the statement could not be verified. Sadr has led calls for resistance to Zarqawi's militant Sunni network, which has claimed responsibility for some of the most spectacular suicide bombings in Iraq since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Supporters of Sadr, whose Mehdi Army militia has led two uprisings against US forces, are considered the closest to Iraq's minority Sunnis. Monday's statement appeared to be an attempt to avoid alienating Sadr, whose anti-US line has gained him sympathy around the Arab world where there is much suspicion of Shi'ite parties in the government of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari. An audio tape posted on the internet and attributed to Zarqawi ridiculed government efforts to bring alienated Sunnis, the dominant group under Saddam, into the political process. The speaker, who sounded like Zarqawi, denounced "the call to take part in the crime of drawing up the constitution". |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 Partly this is Sistani's fault. I think we didn't kill Tater because Sistani asked us not to. Sistani said he would take care of it and he sort of did with some subtle and not so subtle verbal put downs. But they were too few, too subtle, too gentle. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-09-20 08:28 |
| #5 We can get stuck on past mistakes or change the dynamics on the ground, just as Z just did. |
| Posted by: Omavilet Gruger2583 2005-09-20 05:27 |
| #4 Or at least until the other side is dead or scattered. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-09-20 02:01 |
| #3 No statute of limitations for a grudge or an insult against your tribe. It is eternal. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-09-20 00:47 |
| #2 Should have doused the flame when it was its time to go. Methinks Dr. Bremer decided to let this paritcular flame continue. Fog of war? Realpolitik coming home to roost, sezeye. Aargh. Is there a statute of limitations in Iraq? |
| Posted by: OregonGuy 2005-09-20 00:45 |
| #1 Somehow, I can't see this helping Sadr's popularity as the bombs keep killing Shiites. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-09-20 00:18 |