U.S. Losing Ground Through Tribal Allies

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/23709

U.S. Losing Ground Through Tribal Allies
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2007-06-16 20:21. Media

By Ali al-Fadhily, Inter Press Service, http://dahrjamailiraq.com

RAMADI, Jun 15 (IPS) - U.S. attempts to win over tribal collaborators
in the al-Anbar province have won it more enemies instead.

The U.S. military has launched one of its biggest operations to date to
regain control of the province, to the west of Baghdad. It had lost
control over the region more than a year back.

The province, which represents a third of the total area of the country
and is inhabited by roughly 2.5 million people, mostly Sunni Muslims,
has stood firm against the U.S. occupation of Iraq since the early days
of occupation that began in March 2003.

Fallujah, the second biggest city in the province after capital Ramadi,
ignited fierce resistance to U.S. forces after they killed 17 unarmed
demonstrators protesting in front of a school occupied by the military
in May 2003.

Resistance then spread to Khalidiya, 80 km west of Baghdad, then Ramadi,
105 km west of Baghdad, and reaching Hit, Haditha and then al-Qa'im on
the Syrian border.

Massive U.S. military operations have brought short-term victories, but
turned people more and more strongly against the occupation. The
province remains the most dangerous for occupation forces, and attacks
have continued to escalate.

more...

[Double T]

1. Most Iraqis, like most Americans, have determined that bushco.........

does not have their best interests as its priority, but instead ONLY cares about bushco's own bizarre self serving agenda. bushco has lost the 'war'; bushco has lost America.

[MADem]

2. You've got to give them a real REASON to want to work with you. Bush never understood the

degree of factionalism in Iraq.

Many people just cannot, or will not, understand it, unless they've seen it up close. And even when they do, they can't quite fathom the importance of it all. It's quite a powerful aspect to the overall situation, there. You don't piss off your tribal leader, else your life is worth not a dinar, and your family, which is the center of your existence, is lost to you.

If your tribal leader says NO, then the answer is simply NO.

"The American Army failed to control the situation in al-Anbar province
through military attacks that killed thousands of civilians, so they
decided to set up local militias," former Iraqi Army colonel Jabbar
Ahmad from Ramadi told IPS.

"It started with the so-called campaign 'Awakening of al-Anbar', then it
developed into forming 'The Revolutionary Force for Anbar Salvation',"
Hamid Alwani, a prominent tribal leader in Ramadi told IPS. "This was
supposed to be a local fight between al-Qaeda and the local people of
al-Anbar, but in fact we all realised the Americans meant us to fight
our brothers of the Iraqi resistance."

Alwani said "most tribal sheikhs opposed the idea" and made it clear to
U.S. military commanders that they would never be part of the U.S. plan.
"It seems that the Americans have started to realise their mistake now."

Few tribal groups are backing U.S. forces any more.

Ali Hatem Ali Suleiman, leader of the Dulaim confederation, a tribal
organisation in al-Anbar, told reporters recently in his Baghdad office
that the Revolutionary Force for Anbar Salvation would be dissolved
because of increasing internal dissatisfaction.