War - New Strategy In Iraq

Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi

God help us all. Sudarsan Raghavan reports in the Washington Post today that the U.S. military is arming Sunni tribal leaders in "the fight against al-Qaeda."

U.S. commanders are offering large sums to enlist, at breakneck pace, their former enemies, handing them broad security powers in a risky effort to tame this fractious area south of Baghdad in Babil province and, literally, buy time for national reconciliation.

[...]

Most of the new recruits hail from the Jenabi, the largest and most influential tribe. Under Saddam Hussein, the Jenabi were considered a "golden tribe," filling the ranks of his elite Republican Guard and army. After the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the Jenabi, like so many other Sunni tribes, joined the insurgency.

[...]

The Jenabi splintered. Some sided with the al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters out of fear. Others joined because they wanted to isolate themselves from the region's Shiites and their militias. Those who refused to align were targeted, often by their own tribesmen.

"The Jenabi tribe, the problem they're having is that the al-Qaeda is them," Balcavage said.

Are our military commanders insane? Because, you know, as Riverbend pointed out on her brilliant blog, Baghdad Burning, the al-Janabi tribe is the tribe of that little girl, Abeer Qasim Hamza, who was brutally raped and murdered, along with her family, by U.S. Army personnel. That is what most Iraqis would consider an honor crime, and I very much doubt that the al-Janabi have forgotten the incident or decided not to avenge it. Mr. Raghavan, did you not make the connection? Didn't the military? They're giving armaments to people who have a vested interest in killing every last one of them.

Christ criminy, sometimes I AAAAAAARRRRRRGGHHHH!

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