The man who might save Iraq
He is a former Sunni Arab mujahid from Ramadi who until recently was
fighting the US occupation. He has only a secondary education and
is married with two wives. Now he is praised even by urban, secular, highly
educated Shi'ites as a "conscious man", or "the kind of man we need now in
Iraq". Sheikh Abdul Satter Abu Risha is the leader of the Anbar Sovereignty
Council, a powerful coalition of Anbar tribes, including at least 200 sheikhs,
that is fighting the Salafi jihadis of al-Qaeda in Iraq/the Islamic
Emirate of Iraq in the volatile province.
Abu Risha set up the council after his father and two brothers were killed
by al-Qaeda's extreme methods last autumn. In an exclusive telephone interview
with Asia Times Online, he stated, unambiguously, that al-Qaeda "has abused our
traditions and generosity" and, he alleged, they even "take drugs" - a mortal
sin in conservative Islam.
Sheikh Ali Hattan al-Suleiman, also from the council, was even more direct:
"I'd like to see an al-Qaeda bomber e-mail me or telephone me and talk about his
education. They just came here with money. They gave money to the unemployed.
They are not Iraqis - only Arabs. They are bastards. And the people who follow
them are also bastards."
Abu Risha totally dismissed rumors that the Anbar council is forcing
families in the region to give their sons to the cause, or is engaged in summary
execution of captured jihadis. "We only accept volunteers. And we work by
ourselves, like a team, by shifts. When we arrest people from al-Qaeda or Iraqis
working for al-Qaeda, we take them to the Iraqi Army or the Ministry of
Interior."
I believe that freedom and democracy will work in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why? The Iraqis and Afghanis are good people and they're smart.
To those that say democracy cannot work there, I ask them to explain the 180 degree turn the people of Germany, Japan and now Turkey have made. A little over 60 years ago the Japanese people pledged complete fealty to their emperor who was their god.
If kos is to be believed, half of the people in America are too stupid to think, but freedom and democracy have done pretty well here.
HT to Dinah Lord. She is definately smart enough for freedom!
