The Sheik was a fake just like everything else in the Bush Admenstruation

[Knutey]

- Greg Palast - http://www.gregpalast.com -

Bush?s Fake Sheik Whacked:
The Surge and the Al Qaeda Bunny
Posted By Greg Palast On September 17, 2007 @ 11:15 am In Articles | No Comments

A special investigative report from inside Iraq
by Greg Palast

Monday, September 17, 2007- Did you see George all choked up? In his surreal TV talk on Thursday, he got all emotional over the killing by Al Qaeda of Sheik Abu Risha, the leader of the new Sunni alliance with the US against the insurgents in Anbar Province, Iraq.

Bush shook Abu Risha?s hand two weeks ago for the cameras. Bush can shake his hand again, but not the rest of him: Abu Risha was blown away just hours before Bush was to go on the air to praise his new friend.

Here?s what you need to know that NPR won?t tell you.

1. Sheik Abu Risha wasn?t a sheik.
2. He wasn?t killed by Al Qaeda.
3. The new alliance with former insurgents in Anbar is as fake as the sheik - and a murderous deceit.

How do I know this? [1] You can see the film - of ?Sheik? Abu Risha, of the guys who likely whacked him and of their other victims.

Just in case you think I?ve lost my mind and put my butt in insane danger to get this footage, don?t worry. I was safe and dry in Budapest. It was my brilliant new cameraman, [2] Rick Rowley, who went to Iraq to get the story on his own.

Rick?s ?the future of TV news,? says BBC. He?s also completely out of control. Despite our pleas, Rick and his partner Dave Enders went to Anbar and filmed where no cameraman had dared tread.

Why was ?sheik? Abu Risha so important? As the New York Times put it this morning, ?Abu Risha had become a charismatic symbol of the security gains in Sunni areas that have become a cornerstone of American plans to keep large numbers of troops in Iraq though much of next year.?

In other words, Abu Risha was the PR hook used to sell the ?success? of the surge.

The sheik wasn?t a sheik. He was a fake. While proclaiming to Rick that he was ?the leader of all the Iraqi tribes,? Abu lead no one. But for a reported sum in the millions in cash for so-called, ?reconstruction contracts,? Abu Risha was willing to say he was Napoleon and Julius Caesar and do the hand-shakie thing with Bush on camera.

Notably, Rowley and his camera caught up with Abu Risha on his way to a ?business trip? to Dubai, money laundering capital of the Middle East.

There are some real sheiks in Anbar, like Ali Hathem of the dominant Dulaimi tribe, who told Rick Abu Risha was a con man. Where was his tribe, this tribal leader? ?The Americans like to create characters like Disney cartoon heros.? Then Ali Hathem added, ?Abu Risha is no longer welcome? in Anbar.

?Not welcome? from a sheik in Anbar is roughly the same as a kiss on both cheeks from the capo di capi. Within days, when Abu Risha returned from Dubai to Dulaimi turf in Ramadi, Bush?s hand-sheik was whacked.

On Thursday, Bush said Abu Risha was killed, ?fighting Al Qaeda? - and the White House issued a statement that the sheik was ?killed by al Qaeda.?

Bullshit.

There ain?t no Easter Bunny and ?Al Qaeda? ain?t in Iraq, Mr. Bush. It was very cute, on the week of the September 11 memorials, to tie the death of your Anbar toy-boy to bin Laden?s Saudi hijackers. But it?s a lie. Yes, there is a group of berserkers who call themselves ?Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.? But they have as much to do with the real Qaeda of bin Laden as a Rolling Stones ?tribute? band has to do with Mick Jagger.

Who got Abu Risha? Nothing - NOTHING - moves in Ramadi without the approval of the REAL tribal sheiks. They were none-too-happy, as Hathem, noted, about the millions the US handed to Risha. The sheiks either ordered the hit - or simply gave the bomber free passage to do the deed.

So who are these guys, the sheiks who lead the Sunni tribes of Anbar - the potentates of the Tamimi, Fallaji, Obeidi, Zobal and Jumaili tribes? Think of them as the Sopranos of Arabia. They are also members of the so-called ?Awakening Council? - getting their slice of the millions handed out - which they had no interest in sharing with Risha.

But creepy and deadly or not, these capi of the desert were effective in eliminating ?Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.? Indeed, as US military so proudly pointed out to Rick, the moment the sheiks declared their opposition to Al Qaeda - i.e. got the payments from the US taxpayers - Al Qaeda instantly diappeared.

This miraculous military change, where the enemy just evaporates, has one explanation: the sheiks ARE al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Just like the Sopranos extract ?protection? payments from New Jersey businesses, the mobsters of Anbar joined our side when we laid down the loot.

What?s wrong with that? After all, I?d rather send a check than send our kids from Columbus to fight them.

But there?s something deeply, horribly wrong with dealing with these killers. They still kill. With new US protection, weapons and cash, they have turned on the Shia of Anbar. Fifteen thousand Shia families from a single district were forced at gunpoint to leave Anbar. Those moving too slowly were shot. Kids and moms too.

Do the Americans know about the ethnic cleansing of Anbar by our erstwhile ?allies?? Rick?s film shows US commanders placing their headquarters in the homes abandoned by terrorized Shia.

Rick?s craziest move was to go and find these Shia refugees from Anbar. They were dumped, over a hundred thousand of them, in a cinder block slum with no running water in Baghdad. They are under the ?protection? of the Mahdi Army, another group of cutthroats. But at least these are Shia cutthroats.

So the great ?success? of the surge is our arming and providing cover for ethnic cleansing in Anbar. Nice, Mr. Bush. And with the US press ?embedded,? we won?t get the real story. Even Democrats are buying into the Anbar ?awakening? fairy tale.

An Iraqi government official frets that giving guns and cover to the Anbar gang is like adopting a baby crocodile. ?A crocodile is not a pet,? he told Rick. It will soon grow to devour you. But what could the puppet do but complain about his strings?

This Iraqi got it right: the surge is a crock.

********
Greg Palast is the author of [3] ?Armed Madhouse: from Baghdad to New Orleans - Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild.? See Palast?s reports for BBC Television?s Newsnight, now filmed by Rick Rowley and partners, at [4] www.GregPalast.com

On his departure from Iraq, Al Jazeera?s English language network agreed to broadcast the Rowley/Enders film. I urge you to see it: [5] click here. Palast will update the report today on Air America?s Randi Rhodes show.

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Article printed from Greg Palast: http://www.gregpalast.com

URL to article: http://www.gregpalast.com/bushs-fake-sheik-whacked-the-surge-and-the-al-qaeda-bunny/

URLs in this post:
[1] You can see the film: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C223AE63-CE85-4887-9275-D2278C2A844C.htm
[2] Rick Rowley: http://www.bignoisefilms.org/
[3] ?Armed Madhouse: from Baghdad to New Orleans - Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild: http://www.gregpalast.com/order-the-book/
[4] www.GregPalast.com: http://www.gregpalast.com
[5] click here.: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C223AE63-CE85-4887-9275-D2278C2A844C.htm
[6] Share This: http://www.gregpalast.com/?p=1848&akst_action=share-this

[Michael Tee]

You know it's really funny how you can write the entire history of the Iraq war as a never-ending series of exploding lies, from WMD and Saddam's "involvement" in Sept. 11 to the "crowd" [of 200] "pulling down" Saddam's statue to Mission Accomplished to Jessica Lynch (anyone remember her?) to the Anbar Awakening.  I'm sure I've left out at least a dozen more exploded Bush lies, but what can ya do?  The guy keeps popping them out faster than anyone can write them down, let alone remember all of them.

Even though I can buy into the basic premise - - that the Sheikhs had Risha whacked and that they actually are al-Qaeda in Iraq - - they're probably the last best hope of the U.S.A. in Iraq.  Right now, I think the geniuses in Washington have probably figured out that the worst of all outcomes, from their divide-and-conquer POV in the Middle East, is the rise of Iranian power in the region, so now they need to get the country solidly back under its Sunni minority, democracy be damned, just. Exactly. The Way.  Bush.  Senior.  Had. It. Fixed.  So these sheikhs are a good fit - - they're secular and they hate the fucking Shi'ites' guts.  So, the U.S. supplies them with weapons and they stop attacking U.S. troops.  The gamble is that Bush's Sunnis, maybe with some help from their Sunni pals in Saudi, will be able to break down Shi'ite power in the South and take back the country from the Shi'ites and Iranians.  Rotsa Ruck.  The Iranians aren't gonna let go so easily, neither will the majority Shi'a.

My money is on the Iranians and the Iraqi Shi'ites.  But they are terrible fuck-ups.  Either way the U.S. is gonna lose.  To the Shi'ites and the Iranians, but even if they can pull their chestnuts out of the fire and get back to a Sunni-dominated state, these Sunni don't look any readier than Saddam was to "share the wealth" with their U.S. "benefactors."  At most, just to speed their departure, the Sunni might fork over maybe 5% or 10% of the revenues for a limited time period, but nothing like the U.S. must have expected in the first place.  That's because they'll be going out as losers, as they did in Nam, not as the winners they had planned on being.  Tough shit, George and Dick.  Better luck next time.

[Knutey]

>My money is on the Iranians and the Iraqi Shi'ites.  But they are terrible fuck-ups.<
I like to call them Shit Moslems because they are nearly as ewird as our gool ol Merican Fundies.
I mean they whip themselves with fucken chains for Chrissakes and cut open their babies heads with swords.



Why its almost as bad as home schooling and having a perverted Repub Congrassman babysit your baby boys.

[Michael Tee]

Sometimes I don't give a shit if the Americans want to nuke them or not.    That's some picture, Knute. 

[Knutey]

Sometimes I don't give a shit if the Americans want to nuke them or not.    That's some picture, Knute. 

It moved me greatly. These are the pricks we deposed Saddam for? Seems to me that they deserved him just llke our RW pals in here deserve to live with the shame of the Bushidiot that they installed to fuck up US & the world.

[Michael Tee]

They can't all be like that, though.  We're probably looking at the fringe of the fringe.  I think the festival is Ashurrah where they run through the streets beating each others' backs to a bloody pulp with special whips made for the occasion.

[BT]

So much for diversity.

[Michael Tee]

Save the "diversity" crap for the baby whose head was cut open by his own mother.

[_JS]

I like to call them Shit Moslems because they are nearly as ewird as our gool ol Merican Fundies. I mean they whip themselves with fucken chains for Chrissakes and cut open their babies heads with swords.

Nice.

The Shi'a have a very diverse set of beliefs and there are clerics in the Shi'a sect of Islam that range from very liberal to very conservative. To shove all of Shi'a Islam into one container that you can easily apply your hate is bullshit.

[Knutey]

I like to call them Shit Moslems because they are nearly as ewird as our gool ol Merican Fundies. I mean they whip themselves with fucken chains for Chrissakes and cut open their babies heads with swords.

Nice.

The Shi'a have a very diverse set of beliefs and there are clerics in the Shi'a sect of Islam that range from very liberal to very conservative. To shove all of Shi'a Islam into one container that you can easily apply your hate is bullshit.

Really? One of the reasons they hated Saddam so was that he outlawed them cutting their heads with swords. The bastard! I dont doubt that there may be a few normal Shia in the world just as there may be one or two sane Fundies. But the overwhelming number of both of them appear to be raving lunatics.
I confess. I do hate people who cut their babies heads with swords or dunk them in rivers and think they are pious.

[Amianthus]

My, my. Let the diversity flow.

[Knutey]

My, my. Let the diversity flow.

The only thing you know about diversity is that your diseased mind is all over the place.

[Amianthus]

The only thing you know about diversity is that your diseased mind is all over the place.

At least it's not focused on hating as yours is.

[_JS]

Really? One of the reasons they hated Saddam so was that he outlawed them cutting their heads with swords. The bastard! I dont doubt that there may be a few normal Shia in the world just as there may be one or two sane Fundies. But the overwhelming number of both of them appear to be raving lunatics.
I confess. I do hate people who cut their babies heads with swords or dunk them in rivers and think they are pious.

The Shi'a also hated Saddam because of wholesale massacres of their people, which began under the Ottoman Empire, continued under British rule and the Iraqi monarchy, and then under Ba'athist rule. Part of Saddam's oppression of the Shi'a included: banning Shi'a texts, preventing Shi'a mosques from loaning books, banning funeral processions, prohibiting commemoration of holy days, outright bans on Friday prayers, denying programs with Shi'a messages on the radio, torture, murder, massacres.

Shi'a are also poorer and an oppressed class in every Sunni nation, which is why groups like Hezbollah, and those working in Iraq have found success.

There are many "normal" Shi'a. Just because you don't like the customs of a non-western culture doesn't make them evil or hideous. It might make you a racist, though. Don't you think that male infants might bleed when they are circumcised? Does that make all Jews horrible?

[sirs]

WOW....Js actually criticized knute.  There's hope, yet