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In Iraq, the Jihad Is Now Against the Shias, Not the Americans

[Guardian-UK] Ghaith Abdul-Ahad - Rami, a former Sunni insurgent, explained: "I used to attack the Americans when that was the jihad. Now there is no jihad....It's only the young kids that are fighting now, and they are not fighting Americans any more, they are just killing Shia." "It's not a good time to be a Sunni in Baghdad," Abu Omar told me. "In my area some ignorant al-Qaeda guys have been kidnapping poor Shia farmers, killing them and throwing their bodies in the river. I told them: 'This is not jihad. You can't kill all the Shia!...Why provoke them?'" Then he said: "I am trying to talk to the Americans. I want to give them assurances that no one will attack them in our area if they stop the Shia militias from coming." This man, who had spent the last three years fighting the Americans, was now willing to talk to them because he saw the Americans as the lesser of two evils. Many Sunni insurgent leaders are beginning to doubt the wisdom of their alliance with al-Qaeda extremists.
2007-01-16 01:00:00
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