Al Qaida gjennomførte torsdag angrep mot to landsbyer ved Baqouba, en shia og en sunni. Sunni-landsbyen ble angrepet fordi sheikhen der hadde oppfordret til motstand mot Al Qaida. Shiaene ble angrepet fordi de er shiaer. I begge landsbyer gjorde folk motstand.
Sunnienes opprør mot Al Qaida-gruppene er det viktigste positive som har skjedd i Irak, sier den kjente sikkerhetseksperten Anthony Cordesman.

Kara Driggers, a Mideast analyst at the Terrorism Research Center, said al-Qaida attacks on the leaders of opposing groups have prompted more Iraqis to turn against them.

“The al-Qaida tactic of targeting leaders of anti-al-Qaida movements is counterproductive in that Iraqi society’s tribal leanings requires reprisal killings,” she said. “The tribal loyalties of Iraqi civilians are ignited to increase anti-al-Qaida sentiment among the population.”

Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq expert at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, said the Sunni uprising against al-Qaida was more important than military gains.

“If success comes, it will not be because the new strategy President Bush announced in January succeeded, or through the development of Iraqi security forces at the planned rate. It will come because of the new, spontaneous rise of local forces willing to attack and resist al-Qaida, and because new levels of political conciliation and economic stability occur at a pace dictated more by Iraqi political dynamics than the result of U.S. pressure,” Cordesman wrote in a report Wednesday.

“The key element for success remains political conciliation and so far the pace of Iraqi action lags far behind the minimal levels necessary to meet either Iraqi or U.S. expectations,” Cordesman wrote.

Bildet: Jeremy Paul Bouffard mistet livet sammen med 13 andre da et Black Hawk-helikopter styrtet utenfor Kirkuk onsdag. Bouffard var fra Middlefield, Mass.