The Long War Journal: Continuing Ops In Tal Afar and Anbar

Written by Bill Roggio on September 17, 2005 9:13 AM to The Long War Journal

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2005/09/continuing_ops_1.php

Coalition forces continue mop-up operations in Tal Afar. General Casey reports the city is nearly cleared of insurgents after recent operations, and that up to eighty percent of the foreign fighters (otherwise known as al Qaeda) and insurgents killed or captured have been accounted for (see this comment for correction). About 20,000 of the city's population fled during the fighting, contrary to the stories of a mass exodus of civilians. Reconstruction efforts have been taking place in the city in conjunction with the fighting, with local Iraqis participating in the efforts to provide for jobs and ownership.

Coalition forces captured Abu Fatima al Qaeda's latest commander of Mosul, as well as Abu Shahed, one of the organizations commanders during a meeting. Fatima was the organizations' leader for only 12 days prior to his capture. The Emir of Mosul for al Qaeda has been a tough position to hold.

In the town of Ubaydi, near Qaim, Coalition forces raid two al Qaeda safe houses, killing one terrorist and destroying weapons caches and two car bombs. In Samarra three terrorists are arrested and two more car bombs are taken out of action. The operations in Mosul, Ubaydi and Samarra all indicate a high level of intelligence and the means to exploit it exists in each town. While Ubaydi may not be under government control, U.S. forces have the capacity to execute missions at will.

While the pressure on al Qaeda in Anbar and the north continues, al Qaeda loses support among the Sunni population.

Sheik Mahmud al-Sumaidaei, a leading Sunni cleric whose group is linked to the country's insurgency, criticized militants for targeting civilians. He called for Iraq's religious and ethnic groups to take a stand against further bloodshed.

"I call for a meeting ... of all the country's religious and political leaders to take a stand against the bloodshed," al-Sumaidaei said during his sermon at Baghdad's Um al Qura Sunni mosque.

"We don't need others to come across the border and kill us in the name of defending us," he declared, a reference to foreign fighters who have joined the insurgency under the banner of al-Qaida. "We reject the killing of any Iraqi."

al Qaeda's predicament is as follows: It cannot take and hold territory, thus it is unable to project real power. To remain relevant in Iraq and to erode the will of the American public, it must conduct mass casualty attacks. But these attacks increasing alienate the Iraqi citizens, even sympathetic Sunnis and members of the insurgency. That the media cannot or will not recognize al Qaeda's dilemma is stunning, to say the least.