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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| French Spin on Fallujah Terrorists | |
| 2004-04-13 | |
| The insurgents who have been resisting a weeklong onslaught by the US war machine in this Sunni bastion are for the most part young, deeply religious, proud of their tribal heritage and highly suspicious of foreigners. "We are above all free men," said one of them who would not give his name. "We accept only God’s authority," another said. Don’t believe it. They hardly kept RPGs in their back yards during the Saddam dictatorship. They are being supplied from Arab Islamofascists. I have to add: the attribution to Baathist-Fedayen, is equally false. This is jihad, folks; al-Qaeda at the neighborhood level. Fallujah’s residents are known to be stronged-willed and united by deep tribal ties. Even ex-dictator Saddam Hussein had trouble controling the Dulaimi tribe in Al-Anbar Province around Fallujah. After he ordered the 1995 execution of Mohammed Mazloum Dulaimi, a local man and an air force officer, the area’s people revolted, burning a police station and other government buildings. To put down the rebellion, Saddam chose subtlety over force, according to an older rebel, who said Saddam deployed soldiers from the same Dulaimi tribe as the officer, and the rebels agreed to lay down their arms and turned them over to their cousins... Relative freedom of the press, has permitted a year of Salafi indoctrination. Forget the "tribal" angle. In the showdown with US Marines, many residents have joined the guerrillas. Most of the insurgents are aged between 18 and 35 and some sport beards and salt-and-pepper mustaches. They wear civilian clothes, carry Kalashnikov assault rifles, anti-tank rockets and even Russian-made Strela ground-to-air missiles. "We are defending our district, our city. Everybody is mobilized. No able-bodied man can refuse to take up arms," said an elderly man. "I am defending my city. I am from the Golan district and I have had no news from my family for a week. We are in the hands of God," said a resident in his 40s. The guerrillas have asked families to leave town because of the fierce fighting. "Who would have imagined that a small city like ours could resist the mightiest power on earth," a local fighter stated proudly. Fred: Baath-redux or al-Qaeda-lite?
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| Posted by:Man Bites Dog |
| #4 I see a 50-year war, like the Cold War. Time enough to raise 2 generations of Arabs (a few at least) who have lived under a rule of law (not Shari'a) and who have learned to like governing themselves. Time enough for the fifth columnists to either die off or grow up and wise up. |
| Posted by: Tresho 2004-04-13 5:56:34 PM |
| #3 I don't see a 30 year war. I see a decade at the most if we keep it up. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the Saudi's sent their rabid wackos up there to Jihad. Afghanistan was the first fly-paper war. It got the radicals out of Arabia and hopefully killed. This took pressure off of the kingdom. Right now there is heat on all of the Arabic leaders from the US and the radicals. I think many of them are choosing the secret third option of sending radicals off to Jihad and die again. This allows the US to kill the radicals, and allows the Arabic states to moderate their ways with less of a threat from the radical side. Why send the US military to country after country if they can send their hard boys into the line of fire while reforming themselves. Perhaps I'm overly optimistic. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2004-04-13 3:03:21 PM |
| #2 I wonder how the full destruction of Fallujah would go over in the world right now, especially the Muslim world. We could take it out - total destruction, non-nuclear, in about 18 hours of unremitting high-level bombing, building an impenetrable cordon of tough, mean, NASTY Marines around the city to stop all evacuations, and literally level the city down six stories below-ground. I'd hate to do that, but it may be a lesson we'll eventually need to impress upon these idiots: WE are the meanest, baddest, nastiest warriors on the earth, and we can crush you and your ancestors back six generations if you don't behave yourselves. It's either that or continue this slow grind for the next thirty years. I'm not sure Americans are up to a thirty-years war. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-04-13 1:03:54 PM |
| #1 Re french media : I stopped (for now) watching tv news starting from the early beginning of the insurrection, relying instead on Rb and the internet to get some more balanced info - even though you are stone-hearted warmonging republicans(Tm) ; the chattering class is in full hysteria mode, same as during the Us invasion of Irak. Viet nam/Lebanon comparisons are the norm, we hear that the "iraqi trap has closed on the private Bush", it is "chaos" this, "quagmire "that", we hear repeatedly how a mosque was hit by bombs, one weekly has "The fault! The failure!" splatterd all over his frontpage to make well understand that going to Iraq was "the worst geopolitical mistake since the soviet invasion of Afghanistan", etc, etc... In short : anti-Us bias at their worst since last year... Some links (in french, use babelfish or else) about the anti-Us tone of the public service channel, France 2 : http://www.upjf.org/documents/showthread.php?threadid=6388 http://www.upjf.org/documents/showthread.php?threadid=6382 http://www.upjf.org/documents/showthread.php?threadid=6391 |
| Posted by: Anonymous4134 2004-04-13 12:35:19 PM |