Al Qaeda's Last-Gasp Attacks

Not quite the very last gasp, but you can hear the death rattle in the labored breathing. Attacking civilians in areas where the Anbar Awakening has taken hold results in the deaths of 18 innocents... and lots of not-so-innocent Al Qaeda.

For example:

Al Qaeda in Iraq also struck at the village of Al Kulaiyah in Diyala province. "Villagers from Shiite Al-Ambagiyah tribe defended themselves and in the ensuing clashes nine people were killed," AFP reported. "Seven fighters from Al-Qaeda and two from the Ambagiyah tribe were killed in the gun battle that lasted an hour," said police Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Abdullah.

Seven Al Qaeda "warrriors" put into the grave to kill two villagers? You boys aren't very good against armed opponents, eh? Blowing up unarmed schoolgirls on a bus is more your idea of a glorious battle, huh?

But Al Qaeda is not without a real source of power: chiefly the US Democratic Party.

Thanks to CJ.

Krauthammer On The Democrats: They were in favor of grassroots political reconciliation before they were against it:

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is in disarray, the Sunni insurgency in decline, the Shiite militias quiescent, the capital city reviving. Are we now to reverse course and abandon all this because parliament cannot ratify the reconciliation already occurring on the ground?

Do the critics forget their own arguments about the irrelevance of formal political benchmarks? The transfer of power in 2004. The two elections in 2005. The ratification of the constitution. Those were all supposed to be turning points to pacify the country and bring stability -- all blown to smithereens by the Samarra bombing in February 2006, which precipitated an orgy of sectarian violence and a descent into civil war.

So, just as we have learned this hard lesson of the disconnect between political benchmarks and real stability, the critics now claim the reverse -- that benchmarks are what really count.

posted by Ace at 03:24 PM

| Access Comments