AFP (who else?) reports on the surge from the other side of the street:
The Islamic Army, the main Sunni insurgent group in Iraq, is adamant it will not make common cause with the Sunni militias tackling al-Qaeda with U.S. support, and will instead fight the Americans "to the end."
"The Islamic Army has nothing to do with the Awakening councils," Ibrahim al-Shimmari, official spokesman of the Islamic Army in Iraq, told AFP in an email interview.
"No one can be a member of the Islamic Army and the Awakening at the same time. Our war is for self-defence and we are targeting those who attacked us."
The article goes on to directly contradict the statements by Shimmari, quoting a French expert on Iraq:
"On the evidence, the Islamic Army has a foot in these militia," Filiu told AFP. "And in any case, they do not fight them."
Either way, the most interesting line of the story has to be this:
"The occupation forces seized the opportunity (the conflict between al-Qaeda and Sunni insurgents) and supported the Awakening to help the troop 'surge' strategy of (President George W.) Bush," said Shimmari.
When was the last time a Democrat credited (or accused, more likely) American forces for seizing an opportunity? Petraeus gets more respect from insurgents than he does from the Democratic party. Of course, they're the one's who get to see him in action. The Democrats will have to wait until 2012, at least, for their turn.
