Rowan Scarborough recounts the bizarre claim by some Sunni leaders that they could capture Abu Musab Zarqawi at any time they like but are waiting until they’re ready.
Sunnis will nab Zarqawi when ‘ready’ (Washington Times, p. 1)
Sunni “fence sitters” in Iraq say they would be willing to take on master terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi and rid the country of foreign saboteurs if the Shi’ite-run government’s new political structure is acceptable to them, according to a senior U.S. official. “The Iraqis will kill every foreigner who comes into their neighborhood when they’re ready,” said the senior official who has spent months in Iraq. “They don’t want foreigners in Iraq.”
The official, who has held numerous meetings with what he called “influential fence sitters,” said the representatives have told him they are only tolerating foreign terrorists because they are a “pressure tool” to force the Shi’ites and the U.S. to consider Sunni political demands for more representation in the Baghdad government. “We’ll catch him when we’re ready,” the official quoted one Sunni as telling him, referring to Zarqawi.
The official also said the Sunnis are demanding that Shi’ite security forces cease what the Sunnis consider harassing search-and-seizure measures that target innocent Iraqis. “We’re getting a lot of bad guys,” the official said. “Are non-bad guys being killed? Absolutely. … A civil war has started to a degree.”
The source agreed to a lengthy interview with The Washington Times on condition he not be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the press. “The Sunnis are broken up into many fragmented groups,” the official said. “Many don’t want us to leave. Iraqi intelligence is telling us this every day.”
They’ve only let him go so long out of kindness, I suppose.
