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| Iraq |
| Michael Yon: Al Qaida on the run in Baqabah |
| 2007-07-11 |
| . . . Al Qaeda’s ultimate failure in much of Anbar and now in parts of Diyala relates back to one of the pillars of success—or failure—in this war: Values. People who understand how to tamp down this war realize the critical pillar that values can play into success or failure in counterinsurgency, or COIN. . . . The focus on al Qaeda makes sense here, where local officials have gone on record acknowledging that most of the perhaps one thousand al Qaeda fighters in Baqubah were young men and boys who called the city home. This may clash with the perception in US and other media that only a small percentage of the enemy in Iraq is al Qaeda, which in turn leads to false conclusions that the massive offensive campaign underway across Iraq is a lot of shock and awe aimed at a straw enemy. But as more Sunni tribal leaders renounce former ties with al Qaeda, it’s becoming clearer just how heavily AQ relied on local talent, and how disruptive they have been here in fomenting the civil war. Al Qaeda’s recruiting efforts in Baqubah were not much different than what they used in Mosul as 2004 changed into 2005 and Iraq’s first elections loomed. (I was in Baqubah at that time.) I wrote about how thugs and gangs and fugitive fundamentalists on the run from Fallujah flooded into Mosul and murdered people by the hundreds. Al Qaeda had excellent publicity and media teams and a sales pitch that worked effectively for a long time. But the reason for Zawahiri’s recent desperate recruiting drive is the fact that AQ values in action have turned local people against them. We are not always fighting AQ on the battlefield because they can be so difficult to find, but month by month, year by year, we can destroy them on the moral battlefield; they are savages and most people can see it. Over here, the fact of al Qaeda murdering children is just that: it’s a fact. How they chose to commit the murders is a variable that changes from incident to incident. I’ve written often about how Iraqis, as a rule, love and greatly value their children. This makes the children especially vulnerable as targets for terrorists. That is a brutal fact. Al Qaeda drinks and uses drugs here. This is not propaganda. This is not even news, it’s a fact that I wrote about back in 2005. Zarqawi, the now-dead former leader of AQI, was best known for causing the deaths of thousands or tens of thousands of Iraqis, and raping women all over the land and over in Jordan. Whether Zarqawi raped women from village to village, or one woman from each village, I do not know. But Zarqawi cultivated his image like a pro. Rape and murder were his trademarks. The same Zawahiri who issued al Qaeda’s latest call for recruits sent a letter to Zarqawi back in 2005, warning him to stop cutting off people’s heads and broadcasting it. Zawahiri’s version of a “Values Message” cautioned Zarqawi that these grostesqueries were losing al Qaeda the support of Muslims. He was right. Al Qaeda is no longer welcome in Baqubah. Much more, including a video interview with an "insurgent" who's now on our side, at the link. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #3 Importantly, they are losing places where they can run to, and not immediately come under attack from the locals. This really matters, because they are desperate to find some place to go to set up shop, regroup and rearm, and get their stuff together. If they have to stay on the road, they lose. Just today they tried to force their way into a village, which looks very much like desperation. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-07-11 17:48 |
| #2 I guess we are going to have a semantic problem with ex-insurgents who are now on the Coalition side (as opposed to ex-insurgents who are dead or ex-insurgents who have opted out of the fighting altogether). The BBC and al-guardian will probably refer to them as "'former' insurgents" or something similar. I'd be inclined to go with acronyms. FICAs = former insurgents now coorporating with the Allied coalition. |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-07-11 13:47 |
| #1 So where are they running to? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-07-11 13:39 |