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Tribalfundamentalist Violence

Juan Cole 11/26/2006

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Tribal/Fundamentalist Violence
Guerrillas Economically self-sustaining

That a tribal group and Sunni fundamentalists clashed in al-Anbar is believeable. That the tribe lost 9 and “al-Qaeda” lost 55 is not, unless it was a sneak attack.

The NYT says that oil smuggling, antiquities smuggling, kidnapping for ransom, and fraud raise as much as $200 million a year for the Sunni Arab guerrilla movement. I suspect money comes in from the Oil Gulf, as well. There has been no success in cutting the funding off.

John Tirman on regionalizing Iraq: “Few if any peace processes can succeed without the neighbors’ active consent.”

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About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

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The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


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