After three days of heavy fighting and bloody violence, Al-Qaeda affiliated militants have captured the western cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraq and raised its flag over government buildings in the city previously secured by U.S. forces before withdrawing from the country two years later. Hadi Razeij, head of the Anbar province police force, said police had left the Fallujah city center entirely and had positioned themselves on the edge of town.
“The walls of the city are in the hands of the police force, but the people of Fallujah are the prisoners of ISIL,” he said, speaking on Arabic language satellite broadcaster Al-Arabiya. Fallujah, along with the nearby provincial capital Ramadi, was a stronghold of Sunni insurgents during the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Al-Qaeda militants largely took both cities over last week and have been fending off incursions by government forces there since.
The U.S. State Department expressed its concern in a statement, saying it would continue to work with Iraqi authorities and tribes allied against ISIL “to defeat our common enemy.” “We are also in contact with tribal leaders from Anbar province who are showing great courage as they fight to eject these terrorist groups from their cities,” Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said.
At least eight people were killed and dozens injured Friday night as the Iraqi army tried unsuccessfully to regain control of the city. Army troops, in conjunction with a fray of tribesmen from Ramadi lobed mortar bombs in its response trying to retake the city. Major Sunni tribes turned against Al Qaeda before the American withdrawal at the end of 2011, but also do not support the Shiite-led government in Iraq, creating an odd alliance in the battle against the militants. The total death toll from the violence over the last week is not yet known.
Al Qaeda gunmen on Friday sought to win over the population in Fallujah with a militant commander appearing among worshippers holding Friday prayers in the main city street proclaiming that his fighters were there to defend Sunnis from the government, a resident said. “We are your brothers from the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant,” militants shouted through the city using a stolen police car. “We are here to protect you from the government. We call on you to cooperate.”
The takeover of both Fallujah and Ramadi, both Sunni strongholds, by Al Qaeda’s Iraq branch is a blow to the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Al-Maliki whose government has been struggling to contain discontent among the Sunni minority over Shiite political domination that has flared into increased violence for the past year.
Anbar province which is a desert area on the borders with Syria and Jordan, has almost an entirely Sunni population. The area served as the heartland of the Sunni insurgency that rose up against American troops and the Iraqi government after the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The insurgency was fueled by anger over the dislodgment of their community from power during Saddam’s rule and the rise of Shiites. It was then that Al Qaeda established its branch in the country.
Authorities earlier this week arrested a senior Sunni politician and dismantled a months-old sit-in in Ramadi sparking anger among Sunnis. In an effort to ease tensions, Al-Maliki pulled the military out of Anbar cities to transfer security duties to local police, a top demand of Sunnis who see the army as a tool of Al-Maliki’s rule. Al Qaeda militants then erupted in Fallujah and Ramadi overrunning police stations and driving out security forces and freeing prisoners.
In the writer’s opinion, I feel it is such a shame that we seem to never take lessons learned and apply them as we keep entering these conflicts, seemingly without direction. Great warriors of success would all agree, a war may be initiated by politics and political leaders. Identify your objective and then let our outstanding military accomplish that mission. When you enter politics into the middle of such situations you not only cost American lives, you loose! It’s as simple as that and we’ve proven it repeatedly since the great war in which we made mistakes as well, but not to the extent we do today. Once we have achieved the goal, then you may return to your political adventures but we advise you to do so wisely since it has been at the expense of precious lives lost and even more lives destroyed through life long injuries, physical and mental. Following our great success in World War Two we have played politics with Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya to mention just a few. After great successes by our troops, excluding the success of South Korea, (which is half the story there), we’ve politically turned them back into nothing more than countries in total confusion and countries without direction.
I’m sure Al-Qaeda is trembling in their boots tonight following our brave State Department’s “Statement”, as they join countries, dictators, tyrants and terrorists around the world trembling from such terrifying “Statements”. As I’ve always said, Stop Talking About It, Get In, Get It Done, Get Out or Hold It; then talk about it.
