[NYTr] Palast: Bush's Fake Sheik Whacked

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Greg Palast - Sep 18, 2007


Bushbs Fake Sheik Whacked:

The Surge and the Al Qaeda Bunny

A special investigative report from inside Iraq by Greg Palast

Monday, September 17, 2007- Did you see George all choked up? In
his surreal TV talk on Thursday, he got all emotional over the
killing by Al Qaeda of Sheik Abu Risha, the leader of the new Sunni
alliance with the US against the insurgents in Anbar Province, Iraq.

Bush shook Abu Risha's hand two weeks ago for the cameras. Bush can
shake his hand again, but not the rest of him: Abu Risha was blown
away just hours before Bush was to go on the air to praise his new
friend.

Here's what you need to know that NPR won't tell you.

1. Sheik Abu Risha wasn't a sheik.

2. He wasn't killed by Al Qaeda.

3. The new alliance with former insurgents in Anbar is as fake as
the sheik - and a murderous deceit.

How do I know this? You can see the film - of "Sheik" Abu Risha,
of the guys who likely whacked him and of their other victims.

Just in case you think I've lost my mind and put my butt in insane
danger to get this footage, don't worry. I was safe and dry in
Budapest. It was my brilliant new cameraman, Rick Rowley, who went
to Iraq to get the story on his own.

Rick's "the future of TV news," says BBC. He's also completely out
of control. Despite our pleas, Rick and his partner Dave Enders
went to Anbar and filmed where no cameraman had dared tread.

Why was "sheik" Abu Risha so important? As the New York Times put
it this morning, "Abu Risha had become a charismatic symbol of the
security gains in Sunni areas that have become a cornerstone of
American plans to keep large numbers of troops in Iraq though much
of next year."

In other words, Abu Risha was the PR hook used to sell the "success"
of the surge.

The sheik wasn't a sheik. He was a fake. While proclaiming to Rick
that he was "the leader of all the Iraqi tribes," Abu lead no one.
But for a reported sum in the millions in cash for so-called,
"reconstruction contracts," Abu Risha was willing to say he was
Napoleon and Julius Caesar and do the hand-shakie thing with Bush
on camera.

Notably, Rowley and his camera caught up with Abu Risha on his way
to a "business trip" to Dubai, money laundering capital of the
Middle East.

There are some real sheiks in Anbar, like Ali Hathem of the dominant
Dulaimi tribe, who told Rick Abu Risha was a con man. Where was his
tribe, this tribal leader? "The Americans like to create characters
like Disney cartoon heros." Then Ali Hathem added, "Abu Risha is
no longer welcome" in Anbar.

"Not welcome" from a sheik in Anbar is roughly the same as a kiss
on both cheeks from the capo di capi. Within days, when Abu Risha
returned from Dubai to Dulaimi turf in Ramadi, Bush's hand-sheik
was whacked.

On Thursday, Bush said Abu Risha was killed, "fighting Al Qaeda" -
and the White House issued a statement that the sheik was "killed
by al Qaeda."

Bullshit.

There ain't no Easter Bunny and "Al Qaeda" ain't in Iraq, Mr. Bush.
It was very cute, on the week of the September 11 memorials, to tie
the death of your Anbar toy-boy to bin Laden's Saudi hijackers. But
it's a lie. Yes, there is a group of berserkers who call themselves
"Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia." But they have as much to do with the
real Qaeda of bin Laden as a Rolling Stones "tribute" band has to
do with Mick Jagger.

Who got Abu Risha? Nothing - NOTHING - moves in Ramadi without the
approval of the REAL tribal sheiks. They were none-too-happy, as
Hathem noted, about the millions the US handed to Risha. The sheiks
either ordered the hit - or simply gave the bomber free passage to
do the deed.

So who are these guys, the sheiks who lead the Sunni tribes of Anbar
- the potentates of the Tamimi, Fallaji, Obeidi, Zobal and Jumaili
tribes? Think of them as the Sopranos of Arabia. They are also
members of the so-called "Awakening Council" - getting their slice
of the millions handed out - which they had no interest in sharing
with Risha.

But creepy and deadly or not, these capi of the desert were effective
in eliminating "Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia." Indeed, as US military
so proudly pointed out to Rick, the moment the sheiks declared their
opposition to Al Qaeda - i.e. got the payments from the US taxpayers
- Al Qaeda instantly diappeared.

This miraculous military change, where the enemy just evaporates,
has one explanation: the sheiks ARE al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Just
like the Sopranos extract "protection" payments from New Jersey
businesses, the mobsters of Anbar joined our side when we laid down
the loot.

What's wrong with that? After all, I'd rather send a check than
send our kids from Columbus to fight them.

But there's something deeply, horribly wrong with dealing with these
killers. They still kill. With new US protection, weapons and cash,
they have turned on the Shia of Anbar. Fifteen thousand Shia families
from a single district were forced at gunpoint to leave Anbar. Those
moving too slowly were shot. Kids and moms too.

Do the Americans know about the ethnic cleansing of Anbar by our
erstwhile "allies"? Rick's film shows US commanders placing their
headquarters in the homes abandoned by terrorized Shia.

Rick's craziest move was to go and find these Shia refugees from
Anbar. They were dumped, over a hundred thousand of them, in a
cinder block slum with no running water in Baghdad. They are under
the "protection" of the Mahdi Army, another group of cutthroats.
But at least these are Shia cutthroats.

So the great "success" of the surge is our arming and providing
cover for ethnic cleansing in Anbar. Nice, Mr. Bush. And with the
US press "embedded," we won't get the real story. Even Democrats
are buying into the Anbar "awakening" fairy tale.

An Iraqi government official frets that giving guns and cover to
the Anbar gang is like adopting a baby crocodile. "A crocodile is
not a pet," he told Rick. It will soon grow to devour you. But what
could the puppet do but complain about his strings?

This Iraqi got it right: the surge is a crock.


[Greg Palast is the author of "Armed Madhouse: from Baghdad
to New Orleans - Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House
Gone Wild." See Palast's reports for BBC Television's Newsnight,
now filmed by Rick Rowley and partners, at www.GregPalast.com

On his departure from Iraq, Al Jazeera's English language network
agreed to broadcast the Rowley/Enders film. I urge you to see it:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C223AE63-CE85-4887-9275-D2278C2A844C.htm

[Palast will update the report today on Air America's Randi Rhodes
show.]