Thread: Iraqi's Taking Care of Themselves!

Listening to bushbots one would think the Iraqis can't take care of themselves. On a regular basis we hear that they need us for their security and that Al Qadeda will take over the moment we leave.

However, maybe Iraqis know what is better for themselves then we know.

I have often stated that Baathists have never wanted to share power with Al Qaeda previously and it is doubtful they would want to in the future. Now we have some proof that there is merit for that argument.

Iraq Sunni tribes build police force, fight al Qaeda - Yahoo! News

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A year ago, Iraq's Anbar was the most dangerous province for U.S. troops. Al Qaeda had dug in across the vast desert region. Iraqis were afraid to leave their homes in the local capital Ramadi, where insurgents held sway.

Then last summer Sunni tribal leader Sheikh Abdulsattar Abu Risha gathered his fellow tribal chiefs together and created a police force to try to restore security.
Under the umbrella of the Anbar Salvation Council, Abu Risha says his initiative is showing early signs of success, with recruitment putting some 20,000 police on the streets of the Sunni-dominated province.
"The situation (in Anbar) was unbearable before, people were tortured, shot dead, bodies littered the streets. We couldn't even leave our homes to bury the dead," Abu Risha told Reuters from Ramadi by a crackly satellite phone.
Abu Risha's initiative -- partly in response to Sunni Islamist al Qaeda's indiscriminate killing of civilians in Anbar -- has revived 15 large police stations that now come under the control of the provincial police chief.
Now, while car bombings still plague Anbar, and especially Ramadi, their number has fallen, U.S. military officials said.
And for the first time in three years, U.S. military deaths in the insurgent stronghold stretching across western Iraq number fewer than in Baghdad, where a new security crackdown began in February with additional troops.
This week police arrested 30 insurgents, including members of al Qaeda, and seized three cars rigged with bombs near Ramadi, 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

maybe we need to stop with the constant Iraqi entitlements and let them stand or fall on their own.

Seems promising, hope they can keep it up.

Sheikh Abdulsattar Abu Risha should be given a medal and U.S. funds. This is the best news I've heard out of Iraq since the fall of Baghdad.