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Time to Talk to Al Qaeda? http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/09/14/time_to_talk_to_al_qaeda/ Zarqawi declares war on Shiites On Wednesday, the Sunni-Muslim al Qaeda
said in an Internet posting it was waging a nationwide suicide bombing campaign
to avenge the military offensive against Sunni rebels in Tal Afar, in which
more than 200 insurgents have been killed and several hundreds captured. "Days pass and battles are numbered
and the goal is one: the Crusader-Shi'ite war against Sunnis. Shi'ite districts
in the city were avoided and a war of ethnic cleansing war was directed at
Sunnis," he said. "The interests
of Crusaders and Shi'ites have coincided with each other." Zarqawi also warned
Iraqis and tribal leaders they would be killed if they collaborated with U.S.
forces. "Whoever is found to
be a member of the National Guard, army or is a spy will be killed and his
house will be demolished. Lawry, who would be a possible candidate to broach
secretive talks with Al Qaeda? Sistani? I can’t think of any Westerner… After yesterday’s
slaughter, according to Juan Cole, “Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani strictly
forbade reprisals by Shiites, saying, "If half of Iraq's Shiites were
killed, it would not lead to a sectarian war." Sistani is keenly aware
that the guerrilla strategy is to sucker the Shiites into attacking Sunni Arabs
on a large scale, producing a civil war that would destabilize Iraq and give
the Sunni guerrillas an open for making a coup and taking over.. http://www.juancole.com/ Will they heed
Sistani’s call? Clearly, with
Zarqawi intensifying attacks on civilians, full civil war will erupt, even as the
patch-worked constitution heads to a vote. This week an Iraqi official slammed
the US military/private contractors. The more important deal making seems to be
over pipelines and military equipment. I don’t see
how Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld are going to spin this, since their political capital
is nearing bankruptcy. Karen |
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