« Ron Paul Set To Use Radio And TV Ads In Presidential Campaign Bigtime
Ford Considered Bill Clinton Sex Addict And Hillary Clinton Strong One »
Iraq Sheiks Kidnapped After Reconciliation Meeting
How difficult is it to navigate reconciliation and cement stability in Iraq? This difficult:
Gunmen kidnapped 10 tribal sheiks in Baghdad as the men were heading home Sunday after meetings with Iraqi officials on the nation’s contentious reconciliation process, an Interior Ministry official said.
The sheiks — seven Sunnis and three Shiites — were riding in two vehicles through the capital’s Shaab district, a stronghold of the Mehdi Army, the militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The sheiks were en route to Baquba, in Diyala province, when gunmen in several vehicles stopped their cars and kidnapped them, the official said.
The tribal leaders had just met with an official in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s office in the Green Zone. Al-Maliki did not attend the meeting, a spokesman said.
It is not clear who staged Sunday’s kidnappings, but it is not the first time insurgents have targeted reconciliation efforts, which are aimed at easing the sectarian tension and violence between Sunnis and Shiites.
Last month, a suicide bomber killed 24 people after attacking a Ramadan breaking-of-the-fast meeting in Diyala that brought together Sunni and Shiite military leaders.
Another report gives some additional details:
The tribal leaders who had joined forces against al-Qaeda in Iraq were abducted Sunday as they were traveling home after a meeting with a government official in Baghdad, AP quoted police and a relative as saying.
The gunmen ambushed the two cars carrying the 10 men in Baghdad’s neighborhood of Shaab at about 3:30 p.m., police officials said.
The sheiks were on their way back to Diyala province after attending a conference with the government’s adviser for tribal affairs to discuss
coordinating efforts against al-Qaeda in Iraq.They were representing a so-called Awakening Council, as the anti-al-Qaeda groups often are known, in the Salam area, due east of Baquba, a former al-Qaeda stronghold.
So they were poised to join forces with the government against Al Qaeda and they were kidnapped. There is no confirmation yet on who snatched them, but there does seem a…possible…motive here (and an organization “of interest”.)
opinions powered by SendLove.to
3 Responses to “Iraq Sheiks Kidnapped After Reconciliation Meeting”
One piece blames the Mahdi Army for it, not Al Qaeda in Iraq. That strikes me as more significant, as it suggests that the Mahdi Army has de facto lifted its ban on military activities. The Mahdi Army has been more effective at driving Sunnis and Shi’ites apart than has AQI – especially in the last year. Surely, they don’t look on these Awakening Councils – especially in mixed-sect Diyala – as promising for their cause. But 11 top sheikhs is a lot of people. This isn’t a popular local sheikh like Abu Risha, who could be martyred and replaced by his brother. Interesting story – it’ll be very significant what actually happens to these 11 sheikhs. If AQI kidnapped them, their heads can be expected to be severed from their bodies as we speak. But the Mahdi Army doesn’t usually roll that way. Are they holding them for ransom? Are they even real Mahdi Army and not rogue elements? Are they giving them the same power drill treatment they give ordinary Sunnis?
I hink Elrod gets to the heart of the predicament.
In the midst of all hese sects and militias and criminal gangs, what kind of strategy can possibly produce meaningful progress?
Months and years of planning and effort can be undone by a single malevolent stroke.
To build the civil society needed for progress, the people need basic security, electricity, food, medical care. That’s a project hat takes many decades, even when the final picture is to be far from what we would like to see.
The question for the US remains the same: can we stay to oversee the decades of ups and downs without destroying ourselves?
Just remember that the surge is working.