I fought for my land against the US. Now I fight alongside them

Times of London ^ | 3/15/08 | Deborah Haynes

[moderatewolverine]

As a loyal officer under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi major never imagined that one day he would become an insurgent, but when Iraq fell five years ago he was left bitter, jobless and desperate to drive the invading forces out.

“I saw my country collapse right in front of my eyes,” said Abu Abdullah, who has since orchestrated countless attacks against the US military, spent time in the notorious Abu Ghraib detention centre and briefly joined forces with al-Qaeda.

Recalling the invasion, he told The Times: “I felt as though my freedom was being snatched from me. It was one of the darkest moments of my life.” In many ways Mr Abdullah’s story is the story of the insurgency in Iraq, where the changing allegiances of Sunni Arab fighters has dictated the pace of a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 2003.

He, like many Sunni Arab officers and other Saddam supporters, resorted to guerrilla warfare to kill better-equipped US soldiers but gradually found that his nationalistic resistance had fallen under the control of the militant Islamists of al-Qaeda.

Appalled at the cruelty of attacks sponsored by al-Qaeda, Mr Abdullah switched sides recently and is cooperating, albeit reluctantly, with the US military as part of a grassroots security drive that has spread across Iraq.

[ansel12]

Very interesting look from this man’s view.

It would be nice to get more gritty articles like this.

I would love for a reporter to continue to track this guy for a couple of years to see if there are continuing changes in his assessment of his situation and relationship to our side of things.

[mcshot]

I cannot say it any better and would definitely like to see this patriotic change cultivated and followed up in the media.

[Yo-Yo]

Very interesting look from this man’s view.

From this man's point of view, the US invasion robbed him of all the privileges that went along with being a Sunni Army Officer.

The US invasion has made Sunni, Shi'a, and Kurd all equal, and yes maybe Baghdad has less amenities than they had under Saddam, however the rest of the country has more.

This Army Officer has figured out that he will have even less freedom if Al Qaeda ever takes over Iraq and runs it like Taliban-run Afghanistan was.

[ansel12]

It seemed to me that he is ready to start killing Americans again if he thinks that will benefit his cause, so he is no dependable ally.

What I did like is that this seems to be an honest, down and dirty birds eye view from the eyes of the kind of men that we have to subdue, or win over, the fact that he has moved toward the new regime is encouraging.

Winning this guys grudging acceptance and willingness to try us out seems like a real victory, this strikes me as more convincing than just another flowery article.