72-Year-Old "Concerned Citizen" In Iraq Shoots Suicide Bomber, Detonating His Bomb

Boom. Nice shootin'.

A 72-year-old man stopped a suspected suicide bomber from detonating himself at a checkpoint in Arab Jabour Oct. 14.

The man approached a checkpoint where Mudhehr Fayadh Baresh was standing guard, but did not make it very far.

Baresh, a tribal commissioner and member of the Arab Jabour Concerned Citizens program, said he ordered the man to lift his shirt - using training received from Coalition Forces - when he did not recognize him as a local villager.

The suspect refused to lift his shirt. Baresh repeated the command again, and the suspect exposed his suicide vest, running toward the checkpoint.

Baresh opened fire which caused the vest to detonate, killing the suspect.

“I did it for the honor of my family and the honor of my country,” said Baresh, when he met with Col. Terry Ferrell, commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.

Maybe TSA should hire this guy.

In related news, the grassroots Iraqi awakening/reconciliation continues.

he helicopter trip was brief. But the journey also crossed something huge and ugly: Iraq's bloody sectarian divisions.

Aboard the 70-mile flight from Baghdad to Ramadi was a top Pentagon envoy and a leader of Iraq's biggest Shiite political party. They were paying a visit to Sunni sheiks who have joined the U.S. battle against extremists.

The meeting Sunday was part of budding contacts between Iraq's rival Muslim groups that has shown promise where the nation's political leadership has stalled: trying to find common ground among Shiites and Sunnis.

The exchanges — which have bypassed the stumbling government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — are supported by Washington as part its evolving strategies to tap the influence of religious authorities and tribal chiefs.

Although the outreach is in early and cautious stages, it also reinforces questions about al-Maliki's relevance and ability to bridge Iraq's bloody sectarian divisions.

...

Even some of al-Maliki's main allies — including Shiite political bosses — have opened their own channels to Sunnis outside the official frameworks.

The U.S. military acknowledges it is urging the grassroots-style reconciliation — an apparent extension of its successes to recruit local fighters against extremist groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq.

Don't these ungrateful bastards know that if they don't keep the bodycount high a woman's right to choose in the US might be in peril?

posted by Ace at 04:15 PM

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