Iraqi anger toward Zarqawi
Today our hearts grieve at the senseless murder by Al Qaeda of innocent civilians in Iraq.
Yet out of the horror, the bloodshed, the misery, comes one thing that in my opinion is yet another mark of progress in Iraq.
Last November I argued that the Iraqi people were becoming sick of the senseless butchery of Zarqawi, and that it was a matter of time before their anger and blame was directed at him and Al Qaeda full force for killing and maiming their women and children.
Read this article from the Washington Post:
Insurgents Kill 140 as Iraq Clashes Escalate
5 U.S. Troops Among DeadBy Nelson Hernandez and Saad Sarhan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 6, 2006; Page A01BAGHDAD, Jan. 5 — The residents of Ramadi had had enough. As they frantically searched the city’s hospital for relatives killed and wounded in bomb blasts at a police recruiting station Thursday, they did something they had never publicly done: They blamed al Qaeda in Iraq, the insurgent movement led by Abu Musab Zarqawi.
“Neither the Americans nor the Shiites have any benefit in doing this. It is Zarqawi,” said Khalid Saadi, 42, who came to the hospital looking for his brother, Muhammed. Saadi said he hoped that sympathies in the city, considered a hotbed of support for the Sunni Arab insurgency, would turn against Zarqawi’s faction.
In this article we see:
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1) The Iraqi people are blaming Zarqawi for murdering their women and children.
2) Al Qaeda, through brutality, is losing support.
3) The Washington Post still doesn’t totally get it.
Re-read this line, “They blamed al Qaeda in Iraq, the insurgent movement led by Abu Musab Zarqawi.â€Â
According to Webster, an insurgent is, “a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government; especially: a rebel not recognized as a belligerent.â€Â
What government is Zarqawi revolting against by blowing up innocent women and children? How can a Jordanian (Zarqawi) and a band of thugs mostly from Saudi Arabia and Syria “in surge†against the government of Iraq?
Would we also call what Al Qaeda did in New York 9/11 “in surging� If not, why not?
In fact, under this logic, shouldn’t every gang member and murderer in Los Angeles be labeled as an “insurgent� At least some of them are American citizens!
The politically correct term “insurgent†has been stretched by political incorrectness to encompass far more than the actual word allows.
Zarqawi is a terrorist and a murderer. You will not find many Iraqi’s referring to him as an “insurgent.†That comes from the U.S.
Zarqawi’s days are numbered in Iraq. Iraq has a new government, a police and military, and the people of Iraq blame him, not the U.S. for the senseless killings we read about at weddings, funerals, and mosques.
Cross-posted at Rightfielder