I know what you mean, but the LA Times piece was a bit of serious journalism about life in Baquabah. While it could well be an Iraqi "urban legend," there is also no question that when those claiming to be Al Qaeda take control, severe restrictions are placed upon the populace.
IIRC, even before 9/11, bin Laden had issued a variety of strange directives about how to live life, etc. Based on the admittedly limited serious reading I've done, religious fundamentalists tend to be very "into" little details.
As to the question as to who is AQ, mentioned before, we all know that Iraq is not suburban California. People know their neighbors. They've lived next to them for generations. They also know an Iranian when they meet one, or a Jordanian, or a Syrian. That there a few thousand foreigners in Iraq today stirring up trouble is well proven. For quite some time, almost all of the suicide bombers, for example, were discovered to have been foreigners. That in some provinces locals have said to themselves "Enough is enough" and driven them out has also been documented. How organized these groups are is open to question but asymmetrical warfare does not require organization, just chutzpah and a willingness to die for the cause, whatever that may be. |
