Iraqi bloggers verifies what Kerry has been saying all along

[beachmom]

Sen. Kerry has been saying that Iraq is NOT the center of the War on Terror, and that al Qaeda is not so big a factor there, in spite of the president's rhetoric. Kerry cited intelligence reports that said jihadists are only a small number in Iraq and that only a political solution will end the war between the Sunnis and the Shia.

It's nice to hear the words of an Iraqi who actually lives there echo how small a role al Qaeda plays:

http://ejectiraqikkk.blogspot.com/2006/10/mecca-document-iraqis-choose-mahdis.html

Here, the Kid is making a little fun of some religious leaders and politicians who have issued a "fatwa" to end violence in Iraq -- he thinks it's a shallow move that will change nothing. Then he says this:

Unless the National Reconcillation gimmick targets those who you should really make up your peace with, the blood-soaked Baathists, the backbone of the insurgency, who had their homes and money but now lost it all and are giving Iraqis and Americans a hard time about it, it will be fruitless. al-Qaeda is worthless without their straetgic allies the Baathists, who adopted a more Islamic veil to fit in with the times and bring us all to this sectarain lollapalooza.

So, in the end, this has to do with the usual themes of every war since the beginning of time -- money and power. The Sunnis fighting for the insurgency used to run the place and had a nice life to go along with it, and after the Americans came, they lost everything. If you watched PBS's Frontline last week, you would see that Paul Bremer singlehandedly created the insurgency by his CPA orders #1 and #2 -- deBaathification and the disbandment of the Iraqi Army. Al Qaeda in Iraq is only along for the ride -- they and the insurgents are using each other in an alliance that will most definitely fall apart as soon as an agreement is reached with the Shias and the Americans leave. It is really quite annoying when the president of the United States is trying to prop up al Qaeda in Iraq to a higher status than they could ever dream of achieving. It's a lie and it needs to stop.