Reply #20: The work of al Qaeda, not Iraqis? What do you think? [View All]

[beachmom]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2053168,00.html

Professor Northedge, who last met Samarra's director of antiquities at a conference in Paris in September, believes the attack to be the work of al-Qaeda related militants from outside the town.

In September, Sunni rebels in Samarra joined an unprecedented condemnation of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq after the execution of a leading cleric in nearby Ramadi.

"It is really quite surprising that something like that has happened in Samarra," he says. "The people there have a a very, very powerful sense of community identity, they know how to act in their best interests."

"If you look at the resistance situation in Samarra, there are two general sorts: there are local fighters and there are al-Qaeda fighters and foreign jihadis," said Professor Northedge. "I'm absolutely certain that this is not the local people from Samarra, they would not have blown it up."

What is the slant of the London Times? I got this link from a RW site, and don't want to accept something at face value. But their positive spin (can you imagine?) is that this will turn local insurgents against foreign jihadis. This is possible, but unlikely. Iraqis are known to be big conspiracy believers and will probably blame the Americans. But I do want to know who precisely did this, and it's the Iraqis who have to do that detective work, not American troops.