AFP: Iraqis push Al Qaeda out of last stronghold in Baghdad
posted at 5:47 pm on November 16, 2007 by Allahpundit
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That would be Adhamiya, which was seeing surge operations before the surge formally got started, then seeing improvement in April, and now after two years finally bids adieu to Al Qaeda. The good news: It was Iraqis who did it, not U.S. troops. The bad news: By “Iraqis,” I don’t mean the army or police force.
An armed Sunni group has ended Al-Qaeda’s tight two-year grip on north Baghdad’s volatile Adhamiyah neighbourhood and is now in control, an AFP correspondent witnessed on Friday.
A local militia calling itself the “revolutionaries of Adhamiyah” took over the Sunni district on the east bank of the Tigris on November 10 in a swift and audacious raid that sent Al-Qaeda fleeing from its last stronghold in Baghdad.
On Friday, members of the “revolutionaries of Adhamiyah” controlled main roads into the neighbourhood as well the square housing the famous Abu Hanifa mosque where Saddam Hussein made his last public appearance before fleeing Baghdad in 2003 as US-led forces invaded the country…
“Our men seized 11 car bombs and discovered several clandestine bomb-making workshops,” said the chief of the “revolutionaries of Adhamiyah”, surrounded by armed bodyguards.
Note what he says at the end of the piece about success being contagious. This report, from the usually relentlessly grim McClatchy, is also notably upbeat. Read it and savor the anecdotes it offers about the returning (fleeting?) normalcy; the statistical prism through which the surge’s success is typically viewed doesn’t allow for such human details. The piece also notes that Adhamiya never shows up on Baghdad’s new favorite TV show; perhaps that’s about to change.
When you’re done reading that, watch this and see what the price is.
Update (Bryan): Earlier this week I interviewed CPT Aaron Kaufman of the US 1st Infantry. He just returned from Adamiyah where he commanded an armor company. Here’s that interview. He backs up the reports that al Qaeda has been pushed out of Adamiyah with help from the locals and Iraqi security forces.
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I bet Matthews and Olbermann both lead with this story tonight…
D2Boston on November 16, 2007 at 5:50 PM
Harry Reid called this the Republicans War. Will this be a Republican Victory if the Islamofascists are defeated?
RobCon on November 16, 2007 at 6:00 PM
The Leftards will say they were right all along, there is no Al-Qaeda in Baghdad.
pedestrian on November 16, 2007 at 6:21 PM
This AFP article reads like a cribbed version of the longer report that recently appeared in THE GUARDIAN UK, and whose depiction of the clearing operation as solely a Sunni militia affair was very strongly criticized by the US officer in charge of US operations in the area, Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl. CONFEDERATE YANKEE reproduced the letter to the GUARDIAN editors in full today. Excerpt:
He goes on to describe the control measures and other aspects of direct and extensive US and Iraqi government involvement in pacifying the neighborhood.
CK MacLeod on November 16, 2007 at 6:27 PM
I think so, but then I thought that the mission was accomplished a long time ago.
WMD – check
Odai/Qusay – check
Saddam Hussein – check
Zarqawi – check
Elections – check
Democracy? They have a new constitution, not based on Jeffersonian values, but on theirs, namely Islamic, so check
We can have a big parade for all the Soldiers and Marines as they all come home over the next few months.
They should all be home by this coming July 4th. We can have it then.
Be sure to RSVP.
MB4 on November 16, 2007 at 6:37 PM
Miltias are what made us a country. It is hard to understand and comprehend today, but it happened.
tomas on November 16, 2007 at 7:19 PM
I think we still need ‘em.
TexasDan on November 16, 2007 at 7:25 PM
They’d probably be in support of Family Trees for the Holidays
tomas on November 16, 2007 at 7:26 PM
Score one for the good guys…, by proxy.
Rugged Individual on November 16, 2007 at 8:04 PM
great news im not going to hold my breath i hear this in the msm
Mojack420 on November 16, 2007 at 8:07 PM
The bad news you mean by locals taking things into their own hands.
Do we know if the Iraqi army or police gave their blessing, turned a blind eye, otherwise knew and allowed the operation neighborhood asswooping?
I like the idea of them taking back their neighborhood, but are you worried about other neighborhoods following suit and a breakdown of law and order? Mookie style?
Kini on November 16, 2007 at 8:20 PM
Hmmmm any guess on how physiologically this damages the whole islomofacist ideal, you have just been beaten by other Muslim in one of your grand holy lands.
Mojack420 on November 16, 2007 at 8:30 PM
It always interests me to see how big (and more complicated) news usually gets only a few comments but pointless news usually rakes ‘em in. -Great post, Allah.
Opinionnation on November 16, 2007 at 10:09 PM
Hmmm any guess on how physiologically this damages the whole
Islomofacist ideal,you have just been beaten by other Muslim
in one of your grand holy lands.
Mojack420 on November 16,2007 at 8:30PM.
Mojack420:I agree,maybe the Islomofacists should of thought of that,2,000 to 3,000 years ago,problem is,they don’t know
when their beat.
canopfor on November 16, 2007 at 10:16 PM
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