Michael Totten has part 2 of his series on the future of Iraq up. Here’s Michael’s take on an assertion you often hear in the press.
Some analysts have described this phenomenon as “buying off” or “bribing” insurgency. This is half true at best. The insurgency did not go away. The leaders were never bought off. Only the opportunists and low-level operatives were. And they weren’t even really bought off. An authentic anti-terrorist movement took hold in Iraq, and some former low-level operatives were given jobs as long as they were deemed to be loyal to the local authorities. Al Qaeda in Iraq still exists. It was never bought off. Its leaders remain fanatically ideological and can’t be bought off or bribed for all the money in the world.
“AQI was forced out of Adhamiyah,” Major Humphreys said. “AQI is no longer welcome. Now granted, AQI is not completely done. There are still elements out there operating. They would like nothing more than to get back in and gain control. But their days are extremely numbered. We recently had a couple of car bomb attacks. That’s AQI trying to re-establish itself. But we’re on the hunt for this car bomb cell. And I think we’re pretty close to getting them thanks to the Iraqi Army and the Sons of Iraq that are getting tips on AQI members. The people won’t allow it, and that broke AQI.”
Please help Michael out. He’s a self-supported journalist.
Optimists and pessimists, we’ve seen the names before in the news here and there in MNFI and in briefings by Totten and Yon and others. As far back as 2004 when members of the 101st would talk to the local police and talk to the local security forces to slowly gain their trust and achingly slowly gain the respect of the local forces in fighting a common foe. Most of the people back then did not trust our soldiers and many trusted Iraqi troops less.
It is an incredible journey that our soldiers have taken. And look, they brought the Iraqis with them. Well done guys, well done.
i would also urge all who read here to donate – help Michael Totten out – and the others who are out there doing the work we need to have done – e.g. Bill Roggio at the Long War Journal – others –
there’s talk – and there’s walk – both are necessary -