Vancouver Iraqi describes "fake sheikh" as "nothing new"
A Coquitlam resident who grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, has called reports that the Bush administration invented a leader and ally in Iraq’s Anbar province the “same old story”.
“I don’t know whether the sheikh is fake or not, but it does rhyme well,” Riadh Muslih said, mocking the media’s interest in the story. He added, “It is nothing new in terms of colonial and occupying powers throughout history.”
Muslih moved to Canada in 1985 and now works as a real estate agent. As one might expect, he keeps a very close watch on events in his country of origin. He told the Straight that a story written by Greg Palast, (recently in the news for the tasing of a University of Florida student who was holding a copy of his book when arrested,) was important but ultimately predictable. “If the U.S. cannot make an alliance with the local chief, they will create one,” he said.
Muslih told the Straight that the U.S.’s “sheikh”, named Abu Risha, did not fit into the hierarchy of any of the tribes in Anbar that he was familiar with. He said that Risha was “most probably a creation of the Americans” and part of a U.S. strategy to play Iraq’s different sectarian groups off of one another.
"There is nothing new about this policy of divide and rule,” Muslih said. “The British have mastered it and now the Americans are into it.” Palast’s story, titled Bush’s Fake Sheik Whacked: The Surge and the Al Qaeda Bunny, claimed that the US’s highly-touted success in the Anbar province of Iraq was “as fake as the sheikh” and actually the result of the U.S. “arming and providing cover for ethnic cleansing”.
According to a speech made by US president George Bus on September 13, Anbar province can be regarded as a “good example” of how the U.S.’s latest strategy is working. Bush said that 4,000 additional Marines had been sent to Anbar in recent months, and that together with local sheikhs and Iraqi forces, “a city where al-Qaeda had once planted its flag is beginning to return to normal.”
Bush went on to refer directly to Abu Risha, calling him “one of the brave tribal sheikhs who helped lead the revolt against al Qaeda”.
Contradicting the Whit House’s version of events, Palast’s report alleged that Risha was not a sheikh at all and that other sheiks in Anbar had told a BBC team that Risha was nothing but a “con man”. Palast’s story claimed that Risha was not killed by al-Qaeda as the Bush administration had reported, but was killed with the support of other sheiks in the region.
Palast argued that the decline in violence in Anbar province was not the result of a new U.S.-Sunni alliance in the area, as the White House had claimed. He said it was actually the result of the U.S. government buying off those groups that were most problematic. Palast charged that as part of the deal, Abu Risha and others were permitted by the U.S. to engage in “ethnic cleansing” of Anbar’s Shiite populations.
Many of Palast’s claims have been echoed by the BBC in a program available on al-Jazeera’s Web site here.
“I don’t know whether the sheikh is fake or not, but it does rhyme well,” Riadh Muslih said, mocking the media’s interest in the story. He added, “It is nothing new in terms of colonial and occupying powers throughout history.”
Muslih moved to Canada in 1985 and now works as a real estate agent. As one might expect, he keeps a very close watch on events in his country of origin. He told the Straight that a story written by Greg Palast, (recently in the news for the tasing of a University of Florida student who was holding a copy of his book when arrested,) was important but ultimately predictable. “If the U.S. cannot make an alliance with the local chief, they will create one,” he said.
Muslih told the Straight that the U.S.’s “sheikh”, named Abu Risha, did not fit into the hierarchy of any of the tribes in Anbar that he was familiar with. He said that Risha was “most probably a creation of the Americans” and part of a U.S. strategy to play Iraq’s different sectarian groups off of one another.
"There is nothing new about this policy of divide and rule,” Muslih said. “The British have mastered it and now the Americans are into it.” Palast’s story, titled Bush’s Fake Sheik Whacked: The Surge and the Al Qaeda Bunny, claimed that the US’s highly-touted success in the Anbar province of Iraq was “as fake as the sheikh” and actually the result of the U.S. “arming and providing cover for ethnic cleansing”.
According to a speech made by US president George Bus on September 13, Anbar province can be regarded as a “good example” of how the U.S.’s latest strategy is working. Bush said that 4,000 additional Marines had been sent to Anbar in recent months, and that together with local sheikhs and Iraqi forces, “a city where al-Qaeda had once planted its flag is beginning to return to normal.”
Bush went on to refer directly to Abu Risha, calling him “one of the brave tribal sheikhs who helped lead the revolt against al Qaeda”.
Contradicting the Whit House’s version of events, Palast’s report alleged that Risha was not a sheikh at all and that other sheiks in Anbar had told a BBC team that Risha was nothing but a “con man”. Palast’s story claimed that Risha was not killed by al-Qaeda as the Bush administration had reported, but was killed with the support of other sheiks in the region.
Palast argued that the decline in violence in Anbar province was not the result of a new U.S.-Sunni alliance in the area, as the White House had claimed. He said it was actually the result of the U.S. government buying off those groups that were most problematic. Palast charged that as part of the deal, Abu Risha and others were permitted by the U.S. to engage in “ethnic cleansing” of Anbar’s Shiite populations.
Many of Palast’s claims have been echoed by the BBC in a program available on al-Jazeera’s Web site here.
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