Al Qaeda strategy at work in Iraq

Washington Times:

U.S. military officials suspect the bombings of Yazidi villages in Iraq last week are a sign that al Qaeda is shifting tactics in an effort to create civil unrest among the three prevalent groups in the region.

"This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will — almost genocide," said Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq.

Four massive truck bombs took the lives of nearly 500 Yazidi Kurdish villagers in an act that some officials think is part of al Qaeda's attempt to cleanse the region of non-Muslim groups.

The bombing "may not have only been an act of opportunity but a calculated maneuver by al Qaeda insurgents intent on destroying coalition efforts to stabilize the nation; made up mainly of Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish people," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq.

Col. Garver said the reasons behind the recent attack are still under investigation, but increased violence against Kurdish groups may be a sign that al Qaeda is provoking political and social instability after losing significant strongholds to coalition and Iraqi forces.

...

"The insurgents had success in igniting reprisals at the end of March, when they detonated two truck bombs in Tal Afar itself," Col. Garver added. "Again it's only hypothetical, but they had one night of success, where chaos took over. It may be that they were expecting a similar response after these most recent bombings."

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The fact is that al Qaeda is getting diminishing returns out of its chaos strategy. The Yazidi are too small a group to contribute to chaos that al Qaeda needs to seize power. The Shia are more controlled in their response now because of the effectiveness of the surge. The other purpose of the attack on the Yazidi was to create an al Qaeda PR event for the Democrats to use as a talking point in their push defeat in Iraq. It apparently failed on that level too.