I doubt that Zarqawi cares about going after prostitutes although I suspect (but do not know for sure) the fundamentalist Shiites have something to say about that.
Then why don't you come over and check it out for yourself?
I was watching be-heading videos the other night.. Not of Americans, but of various MUSLIM men who were accused of being "collaborators".. Watched them carve one guy up and bleed him just like a butcher would with a pig or sheep.
And then they tossed his head around and "posed" it back on his body..
I read something the other day in local reporting about a guy who had his right hand and left foot chopped off out in Al Qa'im (near the Syrian border). Seems he was a "thief"..
There is no military solution to this.. I think few people ever thought that their was a military solution. But the military action in overthrowing Saddam set loose the machinery necessary for people to be free to make their own decisions.
A power vacuum was created, and there is no doubt that certain leaders failed to consider the fact that Iraq has been run like a huge mafia gang with bosses, and underbosses, and people willing to kill, and steal for the shoes on your feet.. (wait.. this actually sounds like SE Wash, DC.. ;0)
And what amazing is that while much of the world would like to call the Coalition Forces "invaders and occupiers", they don't seem to be labeling the hundreds of Foreign Fighter muslim extremists such as Zarqawi as invaders and occupiers.
Up in Al Qa'im, over the past several weeks, Zarqawi's people went in and took over control of the region from several tribes who had historically had predominance there. Killed their men, and some reported cases, their boys too, for resisting them.
billroggio.com
So don't think that Zarqawi is a particular favorite here.. He's well funded (reportedly rob a bank of millions of dollars) but there is resistance to his presence amongst the Sunni tribal leaders.
The key, IMO, being over here and talking with some very smart people.. is to take the attitude that "we'll leave when you (the Iraqi government) wants us to leave". In the meantime, we continue to train young Iraqi men to serve in the police and military.. honorable (and often profitable.. ;0) positions in their society. But we train their officers to understand that they serve their government, not themselves. And we train their enlisted soldiers to be professional and take pride in their profession, and disdaining the corruption of previous governments. That's going to take some time.
But the key is to convince the Iraqis that where they go is up to them, not us.. and they will have to deal with the results/repercussions of their decisions. We'll help in whatever way we can to get them on their feet, but we'll not tolerate the create of another state that supports terrorism and Islamic militancy.
Bottom line.. for the next couple of years it will be 3 steps forward, 2 steps back.. 3 forward.. 2 back... But that's still progress from where they came from..
And when you think about the price of this war... Think about what it would cost if we sat on our @sses until the entire region had fallen under the control of Islamic Militants, fueled by oil profits and an ideology that wants to refight, and win, the Battle of Poitiers all over again.. (look it up if you don't know what that battle was)..
Hawk |
