Truth from the Source

This is not official US Military news. This is not unofficial information from unnamed sources but made official because it was whispered to an AP reporter. It is from one of the heads of one of the most influential tribes in Iraq and it is told to us by an American reporter who is not on anyone’s payroll. Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated. In his most recent article. Michael Yon reports

“Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated,” according to Sheik Omar Jabouri, spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party and a member of the widespread and influential Jabouri Tribe. Speaking through an interpreter at a 31 October meeting at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in downtown Baghdad, Sheik Omar said that al Qaeda had been “defeated mentally, and therefore is defeated physically,” referring to how clear it has become that the terrorist group’s tactics have backfired. Operatives who could once disappear back into the crowd after committing an increasingly atrocious attack no longer find safe haven among the Iraqis who live in the southern part of Baghdad. They are being hunted down and killed. Or, if they are lucky, captured by Americans.

Well, we have certainly heard similar things over the years, what makes this different? Yon goes on to explain:

Sheik Omar, who has gained the respect of American combat leaders for his intelligence and organizational skills, said the tough line against al Qaeda is also enforced at the tribal level. According to Sheik Omar, the Jabouri tribe, too, is actively committed to destroying al Qaeda. So much so, that Jabouri tribal leaders have decided they would “kill their own sons” if any aided al Qaeda. To underscore the point, he went on to say that about 70 Jabouri “sons” had been killed by the Jabouri tribe so far.

Let’s see how long this story takes to get to the main stream media. It means the surge is working. It means that good Iraqis don’t hate Americans. It means that the “we must leave so the killing will stop” lie is put to rest. And it means that Democrats in Congress have been wrong about Iraq.

If this holds (always remember that war is fluid and things can change), then the implications are huge. It means that Iraq is morphing into a country that resists Islamofacism from any source. It means that Iraq will have matured beyond the point where they would tolerate militant Islam as being their oppressive government. They will go from being the most dangerous place to live on the planet to being a peaceful part of the modern world. They would be a model for other countries who are being held down by oppressive Islamic regimes.

Read the whole article here.