Since Robert Fisk decided to move from reporting into full-time prophecy, Patrick Cockburn’s probably been the best British journalist in Iraq. See here. His dad Claud also had some dealings with the country back in the 1950’s. From his autobiography:
It was the night of the Mosul revolt against the new government of Iraq under Colonel Qassem. The foreign editor arrived late for dinner but fully justified himself with this bit of news..he had requested a profile of the Colonel leading the revolt…but absolutely nothing was known of this colonel beyond his name.…It was our consensus that there must be one version of the story which stated something to the effect that “tough, swarthy, fast-moving colonel so and so” was the man in charge of the operation. No reader should doubt that such a man was on the side of the angels – our side in fact. Tough, swarthy and fast moving are good things to be and we are happy to have such a man standing up for our interests. Alternatively we must be ready to describe this troublemaker as “ruthless, sallow and trigger-happy Colonel so and so.”
…No one knew, even at half past one in the morning, whose side the man was on. However, there was one brighter side to the situation. Whatever he was up to, the one certain thing about him was that he was now dead. He had ceased to need any adjectives at all.
I’m not sure about swarthy, though it makes an interesting counterpoint to sallow. Anyway, now we have this:
A 3,000-strong militia has been created in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, central Iraq, to protect civilians from insurgent violence, a tribal chieftain in surrounding Anbar province told Adnkronos International (AKI), speaking on condition of anonymity. "The formation of the new militia was decided in conjunction with the US-led coalition, and is aimed at protecting people in the area and repelling terrorist elements," the chieftan said.
Via. I tend to doubt that any local chief actually used the words “US-led coalition”, but that’s by-the-by. This looks very much like an attempt to give the insurgency formal status by recruiting it’s non-jihadi element into a sectarian militia. The swarthy are becoming sallow. Assuming this effort is successful, the remaining insurgents will now become “Iranian backed terrorists” or somesuch.
And speaking of Iran:
Bombs killed six people and wounded more than 30 others Tuesday in Ahvaz, a southwestern city with a history of violence involving members of Iran’s Arab minority, Iranian state media reported.The bombs exploded outside a bank and a state environmental agency building in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad canceled a planned visit to Ahvaz Tuesday, citing a forecast calling for heavy rain, IRNA reported.
Yes, of course he cancelled because of the weather. This looks horribly like somebody’s spreading the love. I don't know who of course, but my bet is that they are swarthy rather than sallow.
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