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| Iraq |
| Deal with Muslim guerrillas meant to end threat to U.S. troops |
| 2003-03-27 |
| Edited for length and to stay on topic, I hope this story is wrong: GULA KHANA, Iraq -- As U.S. soldiers parachuted into Kurdish-held territory in northern Iraq on Wednesday, leaders here offered an amnesty deal to Muslim guerrillas that could help eliminate a threat to American troops in the region. Kurdish leaders extended an amnesty offer to some members of a militant Islamic group called Ansar al Islam, whose 500 to 700 guerrillas have been fighting Kurdish militias for control of a string of villages not far from the Iranian border. Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Ansar, which Washington alleges is tied to al-Qaida, has in recent months carried out suicide bombings and assassinated a high-ranking official in the autonomous Kurdish enclave. The Bush administration considers Ansar a terrorist group and says it sheltered lieutenants of Osama bin Laden during the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. The group also was blamed for a car bomb attack Saturday that killed five people, including an Australian journalist. Which is why you don't give them amnesty! About 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles have struck Ansar's territory since the war began, including five Wednesday. The amnesty offer, according to one Kurdish official, is an attempt to lure away less-radical fighters who may be shaken by the U.S. airstrikes. ''We see a lot of disarray in Ansar,'' said Barham Salih, prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which governs the eastern half of the Kurdish enclave. ''We sense some opportunity here.'' Then just kill them! Or arrest them and hand them over to us. As the amnesty proposal was sent by courier to Ansar, another militant Muslim group, Komaly Islami, agreed in a de facto surrender to move 1,000 fighters out of its stronghold of Khurmal. U.S. officials and their Kurdish allies have feared that Ansar and Komaly would merge, giving the extremists nearly 2,000 guerrillas. But U.S. airstrikes have crippled Komaly's operations and killed 50 of its members. Komaly was stunned early Saturday when the first round of U.S. missiles battered its headquarters and military barracks. Unlike Ansar guerrillas, who had retreated to mountain hideouts, Komaly fighters stayed in their positions. Either dumb or they really didn't think they'd be targeted. More than 1,000 Komaly members and their families, many of them wounded, attempted to escape by crossing into Iran. Fearing reprisals from the U.S., the Iranian military, which in the past had let Komaly members pass, turned them back. Iranian officials were dispatched in recent days to mediate the surrender of Komaly. That's the first I've heard of the Iranians being involved. On Wednesday, 15 scared and angry Komaly fighters waited in a drizzle for their leader, Ali Bapir, to finalize the surrender. In the distance a bus carrying about 40 U.S. troops sped down the road, past bunkers and villages of mud brick homes. ''I don't think the U.S. is against all humanity,'' said Peshewa Mahmud Muhammed, a Komaly fighter with a blue scarf covering half his face. ''But I think the U.S. is against Muslims. It wants to frighten us.'' Bapir said his group does not consider America an enemy: ''I don't know if the U.S. hit us because we are Islamic. Is that enough of a reason? If there is a reason, the U.S. must tell us. If we have done anything wrong, the U.S. must tell us. If there is no reason, the U.S. must apologize.'' Maybe he really does just want to stay at home and beat his wife. He sounds clueless. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 must be the equivalent of the NFL Draft. |
| Posted by: john 2003-03-27 21:05:25 |
| #1 Well this is nuts. Looks like we're in for some fun down the road if the Kurds pull this. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-27 17:16:28 |