Posted on 03/05/2005 9:53:38 PM PST by FairOpinion
As more people lose loved ones to relentless violence, Iraqis have become increasingly vocal in their criticism of the insurgency, even staging a rare public demonstration condemning militants as terrorists after a deadly car bombing. While it may be too early to say public opinion has shifted, one thing is clear: Many Iraqis have grown tired of two years of constant insecurity, and some are directing their anger at insurgents for the first time.
"I demand that they be put in the zoo along with the other scavengers, because that is where they belong," says one Mosul resident whose brother was killed in a recent attack.
One turning point came in Hilla, a predominantly Shiite city south of Baghdad where a suicide car bombing killed 125 people on Monday - the deadliest single attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
For many in Hilla, it was the final straw.
On Tuesday, more than 2,000 people chanting "no to terrorism!" staged a mass demonstration outside the small medical clinic where the suicide bomber rammed into a crowd of Iraqi police and army recruits, also killing civilians from a nearby market.
Outraged, they waved fists in the air and carried banners denouncing the insurgents.
Popular anger against insurgents has been driven, in part, by government propaganda. Last week, U.S.-funded Al-Iraqiyya television aired a series of confessions showing alleged insurgents calmly talking about how they had beheaded dozens of people, kidnapped others for ransom, and raped women and girls before killing them.
"People are realizing that the captured insurgents are not super heroes. They are timid people who kill for money and they have nothing to do with Jihad," said Karim Humadi, head of programming for Al-Iraqiyya.
Insurgents have attacked Nineveh TV, Al-Iraqiyya's affiliate in the northern city of Mosul, where most of the confessions were taped.
Last week, gunmen kidnapped one of the Mosul station's anchorwomen, shot her four times in the head and dumped her near her home.
Before her death, she had called the insurgents "terrorists" on air.
"Such terrorist threats will not deter us from showing the truth about these gangsters," Hummadi said.
Despite popular anger, Al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq said that suicide attacks carried out in recent days proved the group was still strong and capable of pursuing its war against "infidels," according to an Internet statement posted on Friday.
"What happened ... and will happen in coming days is a response to infidel deceptions and claims that the mujahideen (holy fighters) are weaker and that their attacks have abated," said the statement attributed to the military commander of the Al-Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq, Abu Aseed al-Iraqi.
In a separate Internet statement, also dated March 3, the group said its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, would soon issue a message to the faithful.
"Iraq's plains and deserts have turned into volcanoes erupting beneath the infidels and all around them,"
"We call on all Muslims who cherish their faith to strike with the sword," said the group which has led the insurgency against U.S.-led forces and the Iraqi government.
Iraqi authorities say they have captured a number of Zarqawi's aides and associates, but the group has dismissed the reports and said U.S.-led forces wanted to boost low morale.
Zarqawi is the U.S. military's most wanted man in Iraq.
The Iraqi people are starting to see them for what they are: enemies to the Iraqi people and to democracy.
It is also interesting that the news is carried in the Lebanon paper and I am sure the meaning is not lost on the Lebanese people striving for democracy.
This can't be true, the people love militants, hate america and democracy! I can't believe this until MSNCBSNBC all come out and tell me this is the case. /sarc!
Of course they are losing the heart and mind of Iraqis, in fact they have lost the heart and mind of 90% of Iraqis long time ago. Now even the radical Sunni 10% of Iraqis that have supported them is getting sick of them and they will not support the terrorist who is going to kill their families in the name of fighting the Americans.
Kennedy's journey to the Promised Land of Sobriety just took another wrong turn.
This is encouraging.
And the terrorists are losing the war.
In Iraq, everyone knows it's over. Oh, they still launch their mortars and rockets. They're still using the VBIEDs, but the tide is turning and everyone can feel it.
This war has been won by the good guys.
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