Key positions Filled
Guerrilla Movements Pledge to Fight on
Iraq has filled the key positions of minister of defense, minister of interior, and minister of state for national security. Defense went to a Sunni who had been an officer in the old regime but broke with it in the early 1990s. National Security went to a member of the Da`wa Party's indigenous Iraq branch (i.e., not the long-time expatriates, like Ibrahim Jaafari and PM Nuri al-Maliki). Interior went to a member of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance. It is not clear that he can get Interior and many police departments back out of the hands of the Badr Corps, the Iran-trained paramilitary of the Supreme Council, a key member of the UIA.
Al-Hayat says that successors to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are vowing to fight on. One report disputed that Abd al-Rahman al-`Iraqi was killed along with him, and said he was organizing for reprisals. Another report, from the US military, suggested that he had an Egyptian successor. Al-Zaman adds, that sources close to the Sunni Arab resistance movements, among the Army of Islam and the Brigades of the 1920 Revolution and the Army of Mujahidin said that Zarqawi's organization, which had announced open war on the Shiites of Iraq, had distorted the motives of the Resistance and harmed its potiential. They consider him a martyr, but differ with him in their interpretation (ijtihad) of Islam. One big problem for the guerrilla movement has been that it has largely been ethnic Sunni Arabs, and Zarqawi's tactics made pan-Islamic alliances difficult. The resistance movements appear to hope that with him out of the way, a Sunni-Shiite joint resistance to US presence might become more plausible. Al-Hayat says that they pledged "to intensify their operations during the coming phase against the American forces, as a way of demonstrating the true weight of al-Qaeda." (I.e., the indigenous Iraqi movements are saying that Zarqawi's group is not that important, and they will show who has really been doing the fighting.)
Three deadly car bombs in Baghdad on Thursday underlined that the struggle will likely go on.
Am traveling but will try to post more over the weekend.
posted by Juan Cole @ 6/09/2006 12:30:00 AM
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6 Comments:
I have a question... Surely if this Al-Zarqawi was such a prize and as they were controlling the "battle space" (sic) – first one to the scene without any incident – surely they would have wanted to arrest him with his top lieutenants and interrogate them ? After all what could seven men do against thousands. And if the "bad guys" (resic) died in the ensuing battle so be it... puzzling.
Is it even obvious that Bolani, the new interior minister, aspires to challenge SCIRI's Badr Brigades and their control of various security forces?
Wouldn't it be more likely, given his close relationship with Hezbollah party leader Sheik Abdul Karim al-Muhammadawi, that he would emphasize a crackdown on the common enemy of Muhammadawi and SCIRI: the Fadhila (Virtue) Party?
The struggle will go on for years. Bush and his administration have opened the proverbial pandoras box of ethnic hate by invading Iraq.
Even after another year or perhaps five, when we grow tired of the discord and pull out, their will be violence and or an authocratic theocracy.
Anything further on the news out this morning that al-Zarqawi wasn't actually dead for a while? The ugly possible scenario is that he wasn't killed in the bombing but was denied medical attention long enough to die. I hope it's more straightforward and that he just died of his injuries very quickly.
Meanwhile whilst the rest ot the World watching football or chatting about the Zarqawi victory:
Israeli artillery shells struck a group of civilians during a family picnic at a Gaza beach, killing nine people, including three children, and wounding more than 25 others, Palestinian medical officials said today.
The artillery shells were fired by Israeli gunboats stationed just off the Mediterranean coast.
The barrage scattered body parts along the beach. A tent was destroyed, and bloody sheets were scattered about. A crowd quickly flocked to the are, screaming and running around in confusion. One tearful man held the limp body of what appeared to be a girl or young woman. “Muslims, look at this,” he shouted.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/ ...tory262683.html
Yes, Friendly Fire, and the headline at the BBC was something like "Hamas repudiates cease fire"... in retaliation for literally months of Israeli shelling of civilians in Palestine.
Well, I suppose in a way its true. The far-right in control in Israel has once again managed, a la Ariel Sharon, to provoke what will be labeled as "terrorist attacks" in retaliation for months of Israeli terror that went unreported or buried in the BBC, NYTimes, Washington Post and the rest of the complicit main stream media.
The Palestinian nation is being liquidated with our tacit approval.
It's a sorry, sorry world we've allowed them to build for us. It doesn't have to be this way.
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