THE US, THE UN AND IRAQ, ELEVENTH THREAD

AQ has a very small population in Iraq and the idea they will defeat the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds is stupid beyond belief.

Hmm, I see. But then whats the strategic interest for AQ in increased chaos and violence? Surely they have something material to gain from it, what is it?

Quote:

AQ has a very small population in Iraq and the idea they will defeat the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds is stupid beyond belief.

Well apparently the idea is not that they seek to defeat everybody, but rather to sow chaos so that Iraqi Sunnis have no choice but turn to them for protection, which is at least plausible, whether they like them or not, and thus create an alliance, even if said alliance would be purely military.

The more I consider all this violence between Sunni and Shiite, its beginning to make sense. I am so ignorant of the Sunni/Shiite situation in general that it is taking me awhile for it to make sense to me. I don't understand it all. But I read a little about the differences between Sunni and Shiite the other day (for the first time I am ashamed to say) and it seems the majority of the world's Muslims are Sunni including the Saudis and Bin Laden. I thought most of this violence was just the Sunni being upset because they are in the minority and are basically squeezed out in the political process. I think that is still a major part of it, but apparently it goes deeper than that.

Q. What's the Difference Between Shia and Sunni Muslims?


It seems the Sunni the world over have had an interest in Iraq since the Shiite came to power and that is why they are funding the Sunni to fight the Shiite. The Shiite has an interest in keeping the US in Iraq to help them fight the Sunni. Only they were mostly fighting Al Sadre (spell?) instead of Sunni since the surge began until just most recently. Probably why the Iraqi Parliament finally wants us out.

This cannot be won by US. How in the world can we tell who the enemy is when it seems everyone is fighting and creating violence to the destruction of Iraq?

I know I am probably not saying anything of value since probably everyone has been aware of these things way before now.

"Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq's declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling, according to a draft American government report. Using an average of $50 a barrel, the report said the discrepancy was valued at $5 million to $15 million daily. The report does not give a final conclusion on what happened to the missing fraction of the roughly two million barrels pumped by Iraq each day, but the findings are sure to reinforce longstanding suspicions that smugglers, insurgents and corrupt officials control significant parts of the country's oil industry." (NY Times)

Maybe if the Bush administration believed in overseeing their own endeavor....

http://terrorism.about.com/od/groupsleader1/p/AlQaedainIraq.htm
Al Qaeda in Iraq -- A profile of Sunni jihadist organization Al Qaeda in Iraq
From Amy Zalman, Ph.D.,
Name: Al Qaeda in Iraq

"Al Qaeda in Iraq" is a shortening of the organization's original name Tanzim Qaidat Al Jihad fi Bilad Al Rafidin: Organization of Qaidat Al Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers. Iraq is called the land between two rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris.

There has been considerable speculation about the name of the organization and how it was arrived at.

According to Egyptian journalist Abd Al Rahim Ali, the name "Qaida Al Jihad" is interesting because it reveals the roots of the joint organization formed in 2001 when Al Qaida head Osama bin Laden and Al Jihad of Egypt head Ayman Al Zawahiri joined forces to create "Qaida Al Jihad."

In the view of the U.S. State Department the name is "understood to mean the base of organized jihadist operations in Iraq" (The word "al qaeda" means "base"). This name was given by Jordanian born Abd al Musab Al Zarqawi, who assumed leadership in late 2004, after pledging allegiance to bin Laden.

Shiite sacred mosque explosion in Samarra
[Search argument "Samarra Mosque explosion."]
...
In Baghdad, National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie blamed religious zealots such as the al-Qaida terror network, telling Al-Arabiya television that the attack was an attempt "to pull Iraq toward civil war."

The country's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, sent instructions to his followers forbidding attacks on Sunni mosques, especially the major ones in Baghdad. He called for seven days of mourning, his aides said.
...
President Jalal Talabani condemned the attack and called for restraint, saying the attack was designed to sabotage talks on a government of national unity following the Dec. 15 parliamentary election.

Capture of al-Qaeda mastermind of Golden Mosque explosion
[Search argument "Al-Qaeda responsible for Samarra Mosque Explosion."]
...
Abu Qudama operated under terrorist cell leader Haitham al-Badri.

Al-Badri was "a known terrorist," a member of Ansar al-Sunna before he joined terror group al Qaeda in Iraq, al-Rubaie said.

However, Iraqi authorities "were not aware of his being the mastermind behind the golden mosque explosion" until Abu Qudama's arrest, al-Rubaie said.
"The sole reason behind his action was to drive a wedge between the Shiites and Sunnis and to ignite and trigger a sectarian war in this country," al-Rubaie said, referring to al-Badri.
…

On Tuesday, the government freed 450 prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad as part of that national reconciliation plan.

None of the prisoners had been convicted of any crime,
==============================================
al-Rubaie, Iraqi national security adviser, told CNN.
=====================================
So far, Iraq has released more than 2,700 prisoners under the program and plans one more release this month, a Justice Ministry official told CNN.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for Hussein, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, said Tuesday the former dictator has no more chance of getting a fair trial in August than he does now in Baghdad.

"You can't have a fair trial when your lawyers are getting killed, when you can't investigate your case, and you can't go forward," Ramsey said. (Read Ramsey's comments)