Iraqi fighters defeat al Qaeda attack

Washington Post:

Fierce clashes between the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq and volunteer fighters supported by American troops left at least 20 people dead this week, marking one of the biggest assaults so far on the U.S.-led effort to create neighborhood-based armed patrols, American officials said Tuesday.

As many as 45 fighters from al-Qaeda in Iraq, a predominantly Iraqi organization that American officials say is led by foreigners, attacked two checkpoints manned by the volunteer fighters just outside Baghdad on Monday, the U.S. military said.

The clashes in Adwaniyah, located on the Tigris River 10 miles southeast of the capital, resulted in the deaths of 15 al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters and five "concerned local citizens," military jargon for the neighborhood fighters, said Maj. Alayne Conway, a military spokeswoman.

The groups of volunteers, who are paid by the U.S. military, are part of the effort to enlist tribes and former insurgents, most of them Sunni, to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq. But the effort has been sharply criticized by Shiites who fear the groups could turn against the Shiite-dominated government.

The U.S. military and Iraqi security forces joined in the battle against al-Qaeda in Iraq, whose fighters were unable to overrun the volunteer-run checkpoints, the military said. It said U.S. Air Force F-16s dropped two 500-pound bombs that killed the al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters. No American troops were seriously injured, Conway said.

"I think all the elements that had a part in today's battle were impressed with the concerned citizens," 1st Lt. Robert Hamilton, a Troop B platoon leader from 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, said in a statement. "For the number of factors against them they handled themselves well."

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Note the way the Washington Post accepts the NY Times myth that the al Qaeda fighters are just some locals using al Qaeda's name and they do not accept as fact the US claim that they are foreign led despite al Qaeda's leadership acknowledging that fact. When it comes to al Qaeda in Iraq both papers are going with a myth to fit the political opposition of some to winning the war in Iraq.

I think 1st Lt/ Hamilton has got it right. The importance of the story is that the local elements did what they were supposed to d and hung on until the US air craft to take out the enemy. this is what we want the Iraqi forces to do in dealing with al Qaeda. the little battle was in fact a success story for the new strategy.