More on the Jihadi:

This time via InstaPundit, Sage of Knoxville, a solution for dealing with the jihadi:
In the densely populated northeastern slum area of Saddam City, U.S. Marines pulled back to allow local people to hunt "mujahideen" volunteer fighters holed up in the area.

"The locals said they wanted to take charge of Saddam City and we said: 'Roger that'," Lieutenant-Colonel Lew Craparotta, commander of a Marine unit that moved back from the fringes of the suburb, told Reuters.

Local leaders told U.S. officers that non-Iraqi Arab fighters were still a threat in the mainly Shi'ite district.

"It's much easier for them to identify the enemy than for us. We really can't tell who is who," Craparotta said.

The U.S. withdrawal will allow local men to carry weapons openly, set up checkpoints and cordon off areas where they suspect the Arab volunteer fighters are hiding....

Local militia and the "mujahideen" fought fiercely through Friday night until after dawn, with the sound of sustained small arms and heavy machinegun fire suggesting substantial clashes between the two groups. U.S. forces were not involved.

On Saturday, sporadic small arms fire erupted in the poor district, indicating the "flushing out" operation was ongoing.

Baghdad is saturated with weapons, so both the militia and the Arab volunteer fighters have easy access to large arms and ammunition caches.
Now this is the way it ought to be. Iraqis are taking command of their destiny, and by force of arms erecting a society free of terror men. It's damned inspiring, and just right. Many have asked if you can impose freedom with an army. Here is the answer: Perhaps not, but you can tip the scales to allow brave men to claim it.

No comments: