The Times of London reports that the murder of Sheikh Naser Abdul Karim al-Miklif has caused Ramadi insurgents to turn on al-Qaeda.
Three weeks ago, driving alone through the center of Ramadi after attending a wake, the sheikh was killed, riddled with bullets by assassins who fired from two passing Opels. The murder, just days after a bomb killed more than 80 Sunni police recruits in Ramadi, has resulted in insurgent organizations joining forces, hunting down and killing al-Qaeda in and around Ramadi:
In Ramadi tribal leaders say that the three dominant Iraqi insurgency groups, the 1920 Brigades, the Anuman Brigade and the Islamic Mujahidin Army, have formed a body known as the Advisory Council to expel or kill al-Qaeda members.
“It is true that al-Qaeda has become unwelcome in the city,” a leading Ramadi sheikh and relative of al-Miklif said. “But it won’t be an easy task to throw them out. They are well armed and funded. Five more of Sheikh al-Miklif’s aides have been killed since his death. Between five and ten people from both sides die each day.”
According to the Times, insurgents originally welcomed al-Qaeda assistance but the goals of the Iraqi insurgents and al-Qaeda have diverged:
Al-Qaeda still insists that it is justifiable to kill any Iraqi linked to the Government, including local Sunni policemen, an ideology increasingly rejected by local residents who want a stronger Sunni representation in the security forces.
A similar rift opened during the elections last year, as Sunnis voted in large numbers, while al-Zarqawi, fixated by the notion of an Islamic caliphate, rejected the political process. Sheikh al-Miklif had become a central figure in the efforts to lead Anbar into the political process. Last autumn he played host to meetings with other tribal leaders and insurgency chiefs to arrange security measures for the referendum and election votes, occasions that passed peacefully in Ramadi.
This is doubly good news. First that insurgents have turned against al-qaeda. More importantly, at least the Ramadi Sunnis are opting in to the political process.
At the Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio has much more on the Iraqis turning away from al-Qaeda.
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