Insurgents dismiss Iraq polls, brace for battle

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=6294718&cKey=1133886946000

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Election posters promising a stable Iraq cut no ice with men like Abu Mohammed, who runs a women's clothing boutique in Baghdad's Adhamiya district by day but is an insurgent fighter by night.

As an insurgent, Abu Mohammed attacks U.S. military convoys with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles, fights Iraqi troops and hunts down "informers".

"Expect black days. Elections won't change anything. This is a long-term struggle. We will fight for the next 20 years," said Abu Mohammed, who used that name as an insurgent. snip

Abu Mohammed and his insurgent brother sitting beside him in his shop aim to dig in for a protracted battle.

They dismiss candidates like Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a former U.S. ally, and pro-Iranian Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim and say they are exiles who rode into Iraq on American tanks.

[Jim__]

1. "We will fight for the next 20 years"

That's the problem with getting involved with ethnic struggles that are hundreds of years old. Why would you expect the fighting to stop anytime soon?

Oh, I forgot, peace and democracy are about to break out all across the Middle East.

[Teaser]

2. Abu Mohammed is a dead man after this article.

How long do you think it will take for Shiite death squads to figure out who this guy is, given the description in the article?

[acmavm]

3. Yeah, no doubt. But the frightening part is that there's tens of thousands

out there like him.

edit: And by frightening I mean the danger they pose for our poor men and women who are stuck over there fighting this lost cause.

[Teaser]

4. True, I'm just astounded

that he gave the journalists this much info. Clearly he is not among the insurgent's most successful tacticians.