The following information comes from Michael Yon’s blog but it has been widely reported around the net.
Since my reporting of the massacre at the al Hamari village, many readers at home have asked how anyone can know that al Qaeda actually performed the massacre. The question is a very good one, and one that I posed from the first hour to Iraqis and Americans while trying to ascertain facts about the killings.
No one can claim with certainty that it was al Qaeda, but the Iraqis here seem convinced of it. At a meeting today in Baqubah one Iraqi official I spoke with framed the al Qaeda infiltration and influence in the province. Although he spoke freely before a group of Iraqi and American commanders, including Staff Major General Abdul Kareem al Robai who commands Iraqi forces in Diyala, and LTC Fred Johnson, the deputy commander of 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the Iraqi official asked that I withhold his identity from publication. His opinion, shared by others present, is that al Qaeda came to Baqubah and united many of the otherwise independent criminal gangs.
Speaking through an American interpreter, Lieutenant David Wallach who is a native Arabic speaker, the Iraqi official related how al Qaeda united these gangs who then became absorbed into “al Qaeda.†They recruited boys born during the years 1991, 92 and 93 who were each given weapons, including pistols, a bicycle and a phone (with phone cards paid) and a salary of $100 per month, all courtesy of al Qaeda. These boys were used for kidnapping, torturing and murdering people.
At first, he said, they would only target Shia, but over time the new al Qaeda directed attacks against Sunni, and then anyone who thought differently. The official reported that on a couple of occasions in Baqubah, al Qaeda invited to lunch families they wanted to convert to their way of thinking. In each instance, the family had a boy, he said, who was about 11 years old. As LT David Wallach interpreted the man’s words, I saw Wallach go blank and silent. He stopped interpreting for a moment. I asked Wallach, “What did he say?†Wallach said that at these luncheons, the families were sat down to eat. And then their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family. (Emphasis is mine)
Other bloggers who covered this include: Seraphic Secret, Sleeping Ugly and The Right Truth among others. It is worth mentioning again that a US Army raid netted a copy of the Al-Qaeda Torture handbook.
In modern society we often hesitate to use labels. In many ways I am sympathetic to that particular point of view, but at the same time I understand that there are needs that over ride others.
And let’s face it, an organization such as Al-Qaeda has no redeeming features. People who subscribe to this murderous and evil ideology need to be dealt with and handled with extreme prejudice. They would not hesitate to do so with us and we mustn’t with them.
Jack's Shack says
And yet so many think that Al Qaeda can be ‘reasoned’ with.
A daisy cutter might provide the sort of reasoning that they understand.
benning says
Frightening. And yet so many think that Al Qaeda can be ‘reasoned’ with. Foolishness!
Jack's Shack says
KRG,
You make some excellent points. Here is my take on this. This is similar to the sort of Mafia shakedown we have seen in the movies.
The gangsters come in and make it clear that they will not brook any dissent.
I play ball with a couple of guys who have done a few tours in Iraq. Both of them have confirmed coming across remnants of car bombings in which they discovered hands handcuffed to the steering wheel.
I truly hope that Wallach misunderstood and mistranslated this, but…
The way I see it these people are a shred above animals. Even if this is a mistranslation I consider them to be modern members of Amalek.
It is very troubling.
Kol Ra'ash Gadol says
Having gone back and read all the other bloggers’ posts that you mention, it all seems to be from the same source, Yon. I don’t doubt that he was reporting honestly, but is it possible that Wallach made a mistake in translation?
It still doesn’t make any sense to me that they are killing their message boys in such a graphic way; what would the purpose be?
Kol Ra'ash Gadol says
I’m not going to argue that they aren’t evil, but as reported here, this makes no sense. If they’re trying to recruit families over, why bake their sons? If they’re using the boys to run errands for them, really why bake them? Wouldn’t this all be conterproductive? You lose your errand boys, and get -at best- fearful cooperation from the families- it certainly wouldn’t persuade them to come over to their viewpoint – so what would they be trying to do?
I’m willing to believe almost anything of these horrendous people, but I have to admit, I don’t believe that they’re irrational: can you explain this a little further?