The Xsociate Files

No, I'm not talking about the Republicans and their sycophants in the media who try to spin every apparent setback as a political winner for Bush and the GOP. I am talking about our new allies in the Iraqi government. Because they are given consideration to arming their enemies. Literally.

From USA Today:

Iraq's government is studying a request from some local insurgent leaders to supply them with weapons so they can turn on the heavily armed foreign fighters who were once their allies, according to two Iraqi lawmakers.

Leaders claiming to represent about 11 insurgent groups asked for weapons to fight foreign al-Qaeda elements in Iraq, said Haider al-Ibadi, a Shiite lawmaker and member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party.

"They want to take part in the war against terrorists," said al-Ibadi, who supports the proposal. "They claim they could wipe out the terrorists and work with the government."

You would think they would take a cue from how well this sort of thing has worked out for the US, since we have a bad habit of arming our future enemies (Osama and Saddam just to name a few). You'd also think they would see these requests for weapons as possible evidence that the insurgency is weakening. Do they really want to risk strengthening it just so they can expel a few Al-Qaeda, who even they admit only make up a small percentage of the insurgency as evidenced by their most wanted list?

Is it bad enough they were talking about amnesty, now they want to arm them too? Just who are we suppose to be fighting over there?

(h/t Heretik)

Update: Perhaps this is the reason why the insurgents are asking for a hand out.

Posted by The Xsociate on Thursday, July 06, 2006 | Permalink