You Take the High Road, I'll Take the Low Road
Tigerhawk notices an article in the Washington Post.
More than 300,000 Shiite Muslims from southern Iraq have signed a petition condemning Iran for fomenting violence in Iraq, according to a group of sheiks leading the campaign.
Yes, you read that right.
"The Iranians, in fact, have taken over all of south Iraq," said a senior tribal leader from the south who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his life. "Their influence is everywhere."
The unusually organized Iraqi rebuke illustrates the divisions that Iran has provoked among Iraq's majority Shiites. The prime minister and major political blocs are closely tied to Iran, but the petition organizers said many citizens are fiercely opposed to Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs.
Does this signal the opening clash between the forces organized at the grassroots and those picked by Iranian influence peddlers in the backrooms? Is the Surge now shifting its emphasis from al-Qaeda to Teheran? What a reversal of roles between Iranian insurgents and MNF-Iraq.
The petition, which the organizers said was signed by 600 sheiks, calls on the United Nations to send a delegation to investigate what it termed crimes committed by Iran and its proxies in southern Iraq.
This is the kind of organizing strategy the Left, back when it supposedly championed this sort of thing, would have been proud to espouse. Too bad it left the job of fighting dictatorships to MNF-Iraq. Iraq has been a tragedy for the Left in a way that it has never been for conservatives. Never mind. MNF-Iraq is probably better at it anyway. "De Oppresso Liber".
Bill Roggio describes an incident which illustrates how seriously the terror cells fear the grassroots movements.
"Gunmen dressed in Iraqi army uniforms launched an attack on Howr Rajab, a Sunni village south of Baghdad, killing three soldiers and wounding three," the Associated Press reported. "They then commandeered a military vehicle and charged into the village where they assaulted the headquarters of the Howr Rajab Awakening Council, a local anti-Qaeda front, killing 10 of its members and wounding four."
The Howr Rajab Awakening teamed up with the Iraqi Army and repelled the attack. Upwards of 18 civilians were killed in the fighting. "Dozens of men wearing Iraqi army uniforms entered the area and opened fire randomly at people," an Awakening member told the Associated Press. "The Iraqi army intervened and along with Awakening members fought back. There were fierce clashes ... which are still ongoing." ...
Al Qaeda in Iraq also struck at the village of Al Kulaiyah in Diyala province. "Villagers from Shiite Al-Ambagiyah tribe defended themselves and in the ensuing clashes nine people were killed," AFP reported. "Seven fighters from Al-Qaeda and two from the Ambagiyah tribe were killed in the gun battle that lasted an hour," said police Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Abdullah.
MNF-Iraq has been headhunting the al-Qaeda leadership in addition to the grassroots opposition.
As al Qaeda attempts to bring down the Awakening movements, US and Iraqi Security forces continue to target al Qaeda's leadership network nationwide. Over the past week, US and Iraqi forces killed or captured three senior leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq's network.
Maybe the Iranian "Special Groups" should start worrying too.
posted by wretchardthecat at 11/22/2007 03:44:00 PM
7 Comments:
Did they send a copy of the petition to the ISG. Time for more study?
Iraq has been a tragedy for the Left in a way that it has never been for conservatives.
Woe to the vanquished.
Commies within the walls make common cause with their brethren beyond the pale.
Their ideas must be made ridiculous, their ideologies thrown upon the ash heap of history.
Is the Washington Post newspaper rapidly accepting that advocacy journalism has a severe downside?
Too bad you're so eager to believe everything you're told like sheep. See Cernig's post at Newshoggers.com where this 300,000 signatures claim is totally debunked.
Ha ha! If you believe 300000 Iraqis signed this anti-Iran petition, its because you fell for a propaganda lie by a Marxist terrorist cult called the Mek - yet again! LOL!!! How simple-minded you self-proclaimed "conservatives" and warmongers are! So easy to mislead. Open up and say baaaaa! like the sheep you are as your children are led to slaughter in yet another war.
The story about the petition is separately bylined in several news sources.
Amit R. Paley and Sudarsan Raghavan, for the Washington Post. Mohammed Tawfeeq ,Thomas Evans and Charley Keyes for CNN. Mariam Karouny for Reuters. And Xinhua bylines it Xinhua. So the news item is not sourced from a single wire report.
With so much collateral confirmation, one must conclude the existence of the petion is probably real. Now who's behind it.
We have MEK, as you say. But many of those shadow groups have shifted loyalties a lot since 2003. And MEK is listed as only one of the groups supporting the petition. Another group is the Independent National Democratic Tribes. Six hours ago, CNN had another update on the subject.
The leader of a prominent group representing tribes in southern Iraq is calling for "the eviction of the Iranian regime from our homeland." Sheik Jasim al-Kadhim, president of the Association of Nationalist and Independent Iraqi Tribes from the south, condemned what he called Iran's meddling in Iraq by those affiliated with Quds Force, an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Neither "Association of Nationalist and Independent Iraqi Tribes" nor Sheik Jasim al-Kadhim appear to have any open history.
So this petition has all the hallmarks of being the product of being recently organized. From the access this group has obtained to the press; from the apparent ease with which it can solicit signatues from the tribal leaders. From the congruence between the petition's aims and what suits the US, I'd say a betting man might conclude that MNF-I might not be displeased that this petition is being circulated. Which is exactly what my post above suggested.
I don't think it is hard to imagine 300,000 Shi'ites petitioning against the Iran. The Shi'ites in Iraq value their power and independence. They have a country now. Why should they be so eager to give it away to Iran?
cheap
so you believe that Iraq and Najaf's Sistani will bow to the concept of velayat-e-faqih?
IIRC Vali Nasr wrote an article claiming that most Iranians acknowledge Sistani as their ultimate religious authority, and pay their religious taxes to him, as opposed to Khatami. If that's true why would Sistani, Maliki and the general public in Iraq want to subordinate themselves to Iran?
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