For U.S. Unit in Baghdad, An Alliance of Last Resort

BAGHDAD, June 8 -- The worst month of Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl's deployment in western Baghdad was finally drawing to a close. The insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq had unleashed bombings that killed 14 of his soldiers in May, a shocking escalation of violence for a battalion that had lost three soldiers in the previous six months while patrolling the Sunni enclave of Amiriyah. On top of that, the 41-year-old battalion commander was doubled up with a stomach flu when, late on May 29, he received a cellphone call that would change everything.

"We're going after al-Qaeda," a leading local imam said, Kuehl recalled. "What we want you to do is stay out of the way."

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Comment:

It really is scary just how fool-proof al-Qaeda's plan was. The one weak point was al-Qaeda's belief that since their goal was so lofty, they could do no wrong (Bush seems to have a similar attitude). They would have succeeded if they had been on God's side in deed as well as in word; as it is, their evil actions prevented the populace from rising up and embracing them, and the plan fell apart.

Thanks to vermontdave for pointing me to this article.