Police: Bomb kills sheik working with US (leader of the Anbar Salvation Council)

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

BAGHDAD - The most prominent figure in a revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida in Iraq was killed Thursday in an explosion near his home in Anbar province, police said.

Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha was leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, also known as the Anbar Awakening — an alliance of clans backing the Iraqi government and U.S. forces.

Abu Risha and two of his bodyguards were killed by a roadside bomb, said Col. Tareq Youssef, supervisor of Anbar police.

No group claimed responsibility for the assassination but suspicion fell on al-Qaida in Iraq, which U.S. officials say has suffered devastating setbacks in Anbar thanks to Abu Risha and his fellow sheiks. It's unclear how his death would affect U.S. efforts to organize Sunnis against the terrorist network.




Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070913/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[harun]

1. This isn't good publicity for those who want to help the U.S.

[blue agave]

12. Isn't that General Be-Tray-Us in the background ? n/t

[bdamomma]

14. yes it is.

[TomInTib]

17. It's the whole bucking funch.

Petraeus, Gates, Crocker, White-as-Rice, etc.

[Virginia Dare]

30. I remember that picture giving me a cold chill when I first saw it..

now I know why.

[saigon68]

32. "Puppet" Be-Tray-Us loses Quisling Partner

The US forces will allow these Sunni thugs to continue their "Cleansing" Operations

Looks like the opposition had other plans for this TRAITOR

[arewenotdemo]

13. Dance with the Cheerleader and shit will happen.

What a fool/tool.

[varun]

2. State of Emergency declared in Anbar province

the showcase of "success in Iraq" by Betrayus.

[Javaman]

3. work with americans = death.

now if that's not the poster slogan for this war, I don't know what is?

[harun]

7. Picture with Bush = Double fast, expolosion death

B*sh visits Iraq and you are in the vicinity and see a camera, better run for your life.

[Virginia Dare]

31. Equivalent to the kiss of death...

heck uv a job protecting the sheikh, whose job was that, I wonder?..

[saigon68]

35. Too Bad he didn't have a hundred BlackWater Mercenaries

Like the other Collaborator the Mayor of Kabul

P.S. These Hoodlum Mercenaries only costthe US Taxpayer $1,500.00 to $2,000.00 a day each

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

4. Not good

[Kagemusha]

5. Abu Risha was using the US to step on everyone else's necks in Anbar.

If you didn't support him, you became part of Al-Qaeda because... Abu Risha said so. To say he had no lack of enemies would be a gross understatement.

So, this guy had become a huge bigshot, a regional warlord, and now poof, he's gone. (Edit: And this matters because he was building forces that were loyal to him personally, not to Anbar, not to Iraq, but him, personally, and now he's gone.)

[maddezmom]

8. an interesting article from June: Being Careful of Your Friends in Iraq

~snip~

So what sort of a deal could the U.S. strike? General Odierno, an Iraq veteran with a reputation for cold-eyed realism, has cited the military's partnership with formerly anti-American tribes in the restive Anbar promise. There, U.S. Marines have supported a coalition of tribes, known as the "Anbar Salvation Front," fighting al-Qaeda. The group's leader, Sheikh Sattar al-Rishawi, is ostensibly cooperating with the U.S. and Iraqi forces to drive out the foreign fighters who make up much al-Qaeda's ranks in Iraq. And since the alliance has been in effect, the number of attacks against U.S. forces in Anbar has halved.

But that's only part of the picture. Sheikh Sattar, whose tribe is notorious for highway banditry, is also building a personal militia, loyal not to the Iraqi government but only to him. Other tribes — even those who want no truck with terrorists — complain they are being forced to kowtow to him. Those who refuse risk being branded as friends of al-Qaeda and tossed in jail, or worse. In Baghdad, government delight at the Anbar Front's impact on al-Qaeda is tempered by concern that the Marines have unwittingly turned Sheikh Sattar into a warlord who will turn the province into his personal fiefdom.

As useful as they can be in the short term, alliances with tribal or insurgent groups tend to be highly fluid and unstable. Some of the tribes fighting alongside the Marines today were once swearing loyalty to al-Qaeda and gleefully killing Americans. They can turn again. A senior Iraqi commander told TIME of his great fear that, after the Americans leave, the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad would try to impose some degree of control over the Anbar tribes, sparking an armed revolt. "When that happens, the tribes will turn to anybody who's willing to help them fight against the Shi'ites," the commander said. "And guess who will be at the front of the queue?" Some American commanders have expressed similar concerns.

After all, it's not just the U.S. that can regard yesterday's enemy as today's friend.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1627400,00.html

and another:

Tribal Coalition in Anbar Said to Be Crumbling
U.S.-Backed Group Has Fought Al-Qaeda in Iraq

By Joshua Partlow and John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, June 11, 2007; Page A11

BAGHDAD, June 10 -- A tribal coalition formed to oppose the extremist group al-Qaeda in Iraq, a development that U.S. officials say has reduced violence in Iraq's troubled Anbar province, is beginning to splinter, according to an Anbar tribal leader and a U.S. military official familiar with tribal politics.

In an interview in his Baghdad office, Ali Hatem Ali Suleiman, 35, a leader of the Dulaim confederation, the largest tribal organization in Anbar, said that the Anbar Salvation Council would be dissolved because of growing internal dissatisfaction over its cooperation with U.S. soldiers and the behavior of the council's most prominent member, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha. Suleiman called Abu Risha a "traitor" who "sells his beliefs, his religion and his people for money."

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061001453.html

[wellst0nev0ter]

6. Another "Anbar Miracle"?

of course, that is :sarcasm:

[Xipe Totec]

9. It's unclear how his death would affect U.S. efforts?

Uh, yea, that's a puzzler. :eyes:

[ohio2007]

10. His tribe will take care of it

in the usual custom

I4NI

[ohio2007]

33. on Friday, the holy day they are demanding revenge

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2990856

so much for the mandatory greif rituals unless they will hold off on actual revenge

[saigon68]

36. Then they can "Cleanse" a few Shiite fruit sellers and cart drivers

[ohio2007]

37. They won't be hunting for Shiite

AQ claimed the glorious victory of beheading the men,women and Sunni children

[xchrom]

11. what an interesting punctuation mark to the petraeus briefings.

[rodeodance]

15. Police: Bomb kills sheik working with US (in Anbar province)

Source: ap




Police: Bomb kills sheik working with US

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer 31 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - The most prominent figure in a U.S.-backed revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida in Iraq was killed Thursday by a bomb planted near his home in Anbar province, 10 days after he met with President Bush, police and tribal leaders said.


Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha was leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, also known as the Anbar Awakening — an alliance of clans backing the Iraqi government and U.S. forces.

Officials said his assassination would be a huge setback for U.S. efforts in Iraq, because it sends a message to others who are cooperating with coalition forces or thinking about cooperating against al-Qaida.

Abu Risha and two of his bodyguards were killed by a roadside bomb planted near the tribal leader's home in Ramadi, Anbar's provincial capital, said Col. Tareq Youssef, supervisor of Anbar police.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070913/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Am6IQe5VscFNNBLEOhhdBu.s0NUE

---

I read that 2 bridges were blown up in Anbar last week also.

[SaveAmerica]

16. Everything Bush touches turns to dead...

[jefferson_dem]

18. Bomb kills Sunni sheikh who met Bush and took on al-Qaeda

Source: TimesOnline



Bomb kills Sunni sheikh who met Bush and took on al-Qaeda

The tribal leader who inspired the Sunni uprising against al-Qaeda has been killed by a roadside bomb, dealing a huge blow to President Bush's hopes of bringing peace to Iraq.

Sheikh Abdul Sittar Bezea al-Rishawi was killed when the bomb exploded next to his armoured car near his home in the city of Ramadi, in Anbar province. Sheikh Sittar's assassins – almost certainly al-Qaeda – reportedly followed up with a car bomb to make sure. His car was totally destroyed and at least two bodyguards were seriously injured.

Sheikh Sittar, 37, was the leader of the so-called Anbar Awakening, the grassroots revolt that has seen Sunnis throughout large swaths of western and central Iraq make common cause with the US military to throw out the al-Qaeda terrorists who had imposed a Taleban-style rule of terror on their communities.

The uprising had transformed Anbar, once the heart of the infamous Sunni Triangle and anti-American insurgency, into one of the safest provinces in Iraq.

Its transformation was highlighted by General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, in his testimony to Congress this week as evidence that the US military had al-Qaeda on the defensive. President Bush met and was prominently photographed with Sheikh Sittar during his surprise visit to Anbar province ten days ago.

<SNIP>

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2447070.ece

[Virginia Dare]

19. Sheikh Sittar's assassins – almost certainly al-Qaeda –

of course, who else would it be?..:sarcasm:

[beltanefauve]

20. According to Juan Cole

"Shaikh Sattar Abu Risha, leader of the Council for the Salvation of al-Anbar Province, has been killed by a bomb set at the entrance to his farm near Ramadi. Sawt al-Iraq says that a state of emergency has been declared in the province as a result. Bush met with him on the recent trip to a US base in al-Anbar and he was being held up as an American success story in finding tribal allies against the Salafi Jihadis that Washington styles "al-Qaeda.""

http://www.juancole.com

[donkeyotay]

21. Back inJune, 5 sheiks were killed at a meeting that the US held.

Five sheiks and a political official supporting the arming of Sunni Arab tribes to fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq were among 12 people killed Monday in a massive bomb blast at a heavily guarded Baghdad hotel.

http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fairenough/latimesA74.html

[FarCenter]

22. No doubt Al Qaida will be blamed, but

The sheik was using his US connections and the military supplies to become the dominant Sunni sheik in Anbar province.

Bomb at the entrance to his farm... many may have had the means or motive, but who had the opportunity???

[ohio2007]

23. 25 of the province's 31 tribes have organized to oppose .. al Qaeda(9/16/2006 article)

snip
The New York Times reported over the weekend that 25 of the province's 31 tribes have organized to oppose the insurgency and al Qaeda.

The tribes are said to be able to comprise “30,000 young men armed with assault rifles who were willing to confront and kill the insurgents and criminal gangs that have torn at the fabric of tribal life in Anbar.” Sheik Abdul Sattar Buzaigh Al-Rishawi, the chief of the Rishawi tribe, said “the insurgents counted about 1,300 fighters, many of them foreigners.” Al-Rishawi explains the process was long and the 25 tribes agree the insurgents and al Qaeda are harming Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq.

snip

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2006/09/drawing_the_battleli.php

Iraq chiefs vow to fight al-Qaeda
BBC
18 September 2006

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5357340.stm

Guess it's time for the many tribal iron shieks and chiefs to decide just which enemy to release these 30,000 young armed men on.
Will they truely follow the addage;
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

..seems one of their fallen friends tribes will take the four days off to grieve
and
you know what then follows....

[Barrett808]

25. And note this was pre-Surge. n/t

[ohio2007]

29. Surge wans't in Anbar province, it was in Baghdad nt

[Barrett808]

34. True, but BushCo conflates the two, because the surge failed

Just sayin'.

[FarCenter]

26. Being Careful of Your Friends in Iraq

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1627400,00.html

Being Careful of Your Friends in Iraq

...

But that's only part of the picture. Sheikh Sattar, whose tribe is notorious for highway banditry, is also building a personal militia, loyal not to the Iraqi government but only to him. Other tribes — even those who want no truck with terrorists — complain they are being forced to kowtow to him. Those who refuse risk being branded as friends of al-Qaeda and tossed in jail, or worse. In Baghdad, government delight at the Anbar Front's impact on al-Qaeda is tempered by concern that the Marines have unwittingly turned Sheikh Sattar into a warlord who will turn the province into his personal fiefdom.
As useful as they can be in the short term, alliances with tribal or insurgent groups tend to be highly fluid and unstable. Some of the tribes fighting alongside the Marines today were once swearing loyalty to al-Qaeda and gleefully killing Americans. They can turn again. A senior Iraqi commander told TIME of his great fear that, after the Americans leave, the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad would try to impose some degree of control over the Anbar tribes, sparking an armed revolt. "When that happens, the tribes will turn to anybody who's willing to help them fight against the Shi'ites," the commander said. "And guess who will be at the front of the queue?" Some American commanders have expressed similar concerns.

After all, it's not just the U.S. that can regard yesterday's enemy as today's friend.

[ohio2007]

27. In Iraq, sheikhs don't know who in Baghdad is their friend

among many enemies. But,
it's been the that way for a thoudsand years before we showed up.



Killed Sunni sheikh Sattar Abu Risha’s last interview - Post Media Reply
Iraqi Sunni sheikh Sattar Abu Risha, who had been fighting Al-Qaeda for the last year, was killed on Thursday in a bomb attack on his convoy in the western city of Ramadi, police said. In his last interview, on September 8, Abu Risha asked the Iraqi government to support his council's armed militia.



http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dc3_1189714826


article excerpt from Arabic source

Locals fleeing the area said the attack started at 10 in the morning and the shooting didn't stop until after 5 in the evening. Al-Qaeda militants who are mostly Afghans and non-Iraqi Arabs killed dozens of the locals; some were beheaded and their heads were put on top of their chests; among them were women and children.

One woman who was fleeing the fighting added:

The people of Hor Rijab turned against al-Qaeda but since there was no support for them al-Qaeda returned back, broke into the homes and slaughtered men, women and children. And the Americans did nothing…


http://www.radiosawa.com/arabic_news.aspx?id=1370318&cid=24

Iraqi's cannot rely on the 'American GI crutch"
We have to draw down, they have to stand up.

[ohio2007]

24. .."who had the opportunity"???

Well, now that you mention it, somehow I bet the tin foil mad hatters will relize it was the CIA that 'rocked the cazbar'
;)
yes, it would begin to make sense that it was the CIA all along ....


stand by in 3, 2, 1...

[LuckyLib]

28. What?!? I thought Anbar was on the road to pacification . . . oh . . .that was 5 minutes ago . . .