Question to the Right on Anbar.....

A thought occurred to me today after reading this article by Steve Schippert in NationalReview which is a paean to Sheikh Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi a Sunni Tribal leader fighting so-called al-Qaeda in Iraq (for why I don't like the term here), one of the successes of the surge touted by the WeeklyStandard for example.

These same individuals on the right, including John McCain, also argue that if the the US prematurely withdraws from Iraq, the terrorists (al-Qaeda in Iraq?) will follow us back here to North America.

But I think this piece of information (on the tribal leaders) could be turned around and used as evidence for why we should get out. i.e. The tribal leaders are going to handle al-Qaeda so there is no fear of them coming back to the US. And our occupation is only making the job of somebody like an al-Rishawi harder--because we are creating more of the "al-Qaeda" types they are fighting. And the government we are supporting of al-Maliki is not funding al-Rishawi and never will.

Juan Cole has for a long time argued that al-Qaeda will be crushed by the Tribal Leaders. No one would accuse him of supporting the right/Bush.

My own view is that AQI groups may get pulled out of Anbar (although I doubt that) but that there are always going to be some around no matter what. It is a virus that can be contained but not eradicated. Certainly not for 2 generations at least. But again they are not coming to the US, not when they can attack the groups they are really after: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraqi governments.

tags technorati : anbar