[Vision2020] Fw: Bush's Fake Sheik Whacked

[Sue Hovey]

The fellow who sent me this, many of you know.  He is Bill Frye, retired 
helicoptor pilot from the US Army who served in Korea and Vietnam and former 
high school social studies teacher in MHS.

Sue H.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <frye3407 at charter.net>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 10:09 AM
Subject: Bush's Fake Sheik Whacked


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>> This will provide some jolts - Palast has a good rep as far as I know.
>
>> Bush’s Fake Sheik Whacked:
>> The Surge and the Al Qaeda Bunny
>>
>> A special investigative report from inside Iraq
>> by Greg Palast
>>
>> Monday, September 17, 2007- Did you see George all choked up? In his 
>> surreal TV talk on Thursday, he got all emotional over the killing by Al 
>> Qaeda of Sheik Abu Risha, the leader of the new Sunni alliance with the 
>> US against the insurgents in Anbar Province, Iraq.
>>
>> Bush shook Abu Risha's hand two weeks ago for the cameras. Bush can shake 
>> his hand again, but not the rest of him: Abu Risha was blown away just 
>> hours before Bush was to go on the air to praise his new friend.
>>
>> Here's what you need to know that NPR won't tell you.
>>
>> 1. Sheik Abu Risha wasn't a sheik.
>> 2. He wasn't killed by Al Qaeda.
>> 3. The new alliance with former insurgents in Anbar is as fake as the 
>> sheik - and a murderous deceit.
>>
>> How do I know this? You can see the film - of "Sheik" Abu Risha, of the 
>> guys who likely whacked him and of their other victims.
>>
>> Just in case you think I've lost my mind and put my butt in insane danger 
>> to get this footage, don't worry. I was safe and dry in Budapest. It was 
>> my brilliant new cameraman, Rick Rowley, who went to Iraq to get the 
>> story on his own.
>>
>> Rick's "the future of TV news," says BBC. He's also completely out of 
>> control. Despite our pleas, Rick and his partner Dave Enders went to 
>> Anbar and filmed where no cameraman had dared tread.
>>
>> Why was "sheik" Abu Risha so important? As the New York Times put it this 
>> morning, "Abu Risha had become a charismatic symbol of the security gains 
>> in Sunni areas that have become a cornerstone of American plans to keep 
>> large numbers of troops in Iraq though much of next year."
>>
>> In other words, Abu Risha was the PR hook used to sell the "success" of 
>> the surge.
>>
>> The sheik wasn't a sheik. He was a fake. While proclaiming to Rick that 
>> he was "the leader of all the Iraqi tribes," Abu lead no one. But for a 
>> reported sum in the millions in cash for so-called, "reconstruction 
>> contracts," Abu Risha was willing to say he was Napoleon and Julius 
>> Caesar and do the hand-shakie thing with Bush on camera.
>>
>> Notably, Rowley and his camera caught up with Abu Risha on his way to a 
>> "business trip" to Dubai, money laundering capital of the Middle East.
>>
>> There are some real sheiks in Anbar, like Ali Hathem of the dominant 
>> Dulaimi tribe, who told Rick Abu Risha was a con man. Where was his 
>> tribe, this tribal leader? "The Americans like to create characters like 
>> Disney cartoon heros." Then Ali Hathem added, "Abu Risha is no longer 
>> welcome" in Anbar.
>>
>> "Not welcome" from a sheik in Anbar is roughly the same as a kiss on both 
>> cheeks from the capo di capi. Within days, when Abu Risha returned from 
>> Dubai to Dulaimi turf in Ramadi, Bush's hand-sheik was whacked.
>>
>> On Thursday, Bush said Abu Risha was killed, "fighting Al Qaeda" - and 
>> the White House issued a statement that the sheik was "killed by al 
>> Qaeda."
>>
>> Bullshit.
>>
>> There ain't no Easter Bunny and "Al Qaeda" ain't in Iraq, Mr. Bush. It 
>> was very cute, on the week of the September 11 memorials, to tie the 
>> death of your Anbar toy-boy to bin Laden's Saudi hijackers. But it's a 
>> lie. Yes, there is a group of berserkers who call themselves "Al Qaeda in 
>> Mesopotamia." But they have as much to do with the real Qaeda of bin 
>> Laden as a Rolling Stones "tribute" band has to do with Mick Jagger.
>>
>> Who got Abu Risha? Nothing - NOTHING - moves in Ramadi without the 
>> approval of the REAL tribal sheiks. They were none-too-happy, as Hathem 
>> noted, about the millions the US handed to Risha. The sheiks either 
>> ordered the hit - or simply gave the bomber free passage to do the deed.
>>
>> So who are these guys, the sheiks who lead the Sunni tribes of Anbar - 
>> the potentates of the Tamimi, Fallaji, Obeidi, Zobal and Jumaili tribes? 
>> Think of them as the Sopranos of Arabia. They are also members of the 
>> so-called "Awakening Council" - getting their slice of the millions 
>> handed out - which they had no interest in sharing with Risha.
>>
>> But creepy and deadly or not, these capi of the desert were effective in 
>> eliminating "Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia." Indeed, as US military so proudly 
>> pointed out to Rick, the moment the sheiks declared their opposition to 
>> Al Qaeda - i.e. got the payments from the US taxpayers - Al Qaeda 
>> instantly diappeared.
>>
>> This miraculous military change, where the enemy just evaporates, has one 
>> explanation: the sheiks ARE al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Just like the 
>> Sopranos extract "protection" payments from New Jersey businesses, the 
>> mobsters of Anbar joined our side when we laid down the loot.
>>
>> What's wrong with that? After all, I'd rather send a check than send our 
>> kids from Columbus to fight them.
>>
>> But there's something deeply, horribly wrong with dealing with these 
>> killers. They still kill. With new US protection, weapons and cash, they 
>> have turned on the Shia of Anbar. Fifteen thousand Shia families from a 
>> single district were forced at gunpoint to leave Anbar. Those moving too 
>> slowly were shot. Kids and moms too.
>>
>> Do the Americans know about the ethnic cleansing of Anbar by our 
>> erstwhile "allies"? Rick's film shows US commanders placing their 
>> headquarters in the homes abandoned by terrorized Shia.
>>
>> Rick's craziest move was to go and find these Shia refugees from Anbar. 
>> They were dumped, over a hundred thousand of them, in a cinder block slum 
>> with no running water in Baghdad. They are under the "protection" of the 
>> Mahdi Army, another group of cutthroats. But at least these are Shia 
>> cutthroats.
>>
>> So the great "success" of the surge is our arming and providing cover for 
>> ethnic cleansing in Anbar. Nice, Mr. Bush. And with the US press 
>> "embedded," we won't get the real story. Even Democrats are buying into 
>> the Anbar "awakening" fairy tale.
>>
>> An Iraqi government official frets that giving guns and cover to the 
>> Anbar gang is like adopting a baby crocodile. "A crocodile is not a pet," 
>> he told Rick. It will soon grow to devour you. But what could the puppet 
>> do but complain about his strings?
>>
>> This Iraqi got it right: the surge is a crock.
>>
>> ********
>> Greg Palast is the author of "Armed Madhouse: from Baghdad to New 
>> Orleans - Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild." 
>> See Palast's reports for BBC Television's Newsnight, now filmed by Rick 
>> Rowley and partners, at www.GregPalast.com
>>
>> On his departure from Iraq, Al Jazeera's English language network agreed 
>> to broadcast the Rowley/Enders film. I urge you to see it: click here. 
>> Palast will update the report today on Air America's Randi Rhodes show.
>>
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