Rest In Peace, Abu Risha

On July 17th, I blogged on the al Anbar awakening:

The al Anbar Awakening is the call to all of Iraq to stand up with people from all tribes, and all religions to stop insurgents from causing fear throughout their land. The speeches asked for everyone to join together and bring peace and prosperity to all of Iraq.

Lt. Col. Salah Arak al Alwani, the al Jameah police station commander, cited the present as the moment for all Iraqi’s to come together. He said, “Catholics, Muslims, Sunnis and Shiites act as one, work as one to rid the country of terror and fear.”

The day was filled with live music, dancing and food. Iraqi police were holding hands and dancing with Marine and Army generals. Col. Ahmed Hamed Sharqi, the Shaheed Salam, police station commander, was carried around the field as the crowd chanted and yelled in celebration of their new beginning, and out of thanks for the security the police provided.

“To all the attendees and by the name of God, the merciful God, it’s an honor and gives me great pride to have the sons of al Anbar gather here today,” said Ma’Mun Sami Rashid, al Anbar provincial governor. “We’re here to defend ourselves against insurgents and bring back the honor and pride of the Iraqi people. Anbarians have established this with God’s blessing and have been defending themselves from the insurgents, who wanted to bring shame to our nation.”

One of the tribal leaders that made this happen was Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, who was assassinated this past week by Al-Qaeda. How do we know it was Al-Qaeda? Well, I tend to err on the side of caution in these types of situations:

BAGHDAD — An Al Qaeda front group warns it will hunt down and kill Sunni Arab tribal leaders who cooperate with the U.S. and its Iraqi partners in the wake of the assassination of the leader of the revolt against the terror movement.

In a separate statement, the Islamic State of Iraq announced a new offensive during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting that began this week. The statement said the offensive was in honor of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of Al Qaeda in Iraq who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in June 2006.

The statements were posted Friday and Saturday on Islamist Web sites, and among other things claimed responsibility for the assassination of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, who spearheaded the uprising against Al Qaeda in Anbar province west of the capital.

In claiming responsibility for Abu Risha's death Thursday, the Islamic State said it had formed "special security committees" to track down and "assassinate the tribal figures, the traitors, who stained the reputations of the real tribes by submitting to the soldiers of the Crusade" and the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Not only do we have Islamic State of Iraq AQ front group announcing they murdered this peaceful man, they also promise more of the same for those who attempt to do as he was doing, which was bring peace and reconciliation and security to the al-Anbar region. Oh, and:

In a second statement posted Saturday, the purported head of the Islamic State, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said he was "honored to announce" the new offensive in memory of the "martyr Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the beginning of Ramadan," which started for Iraqi Sunnis on Thursday and for Shiites the following day.

Happy Holidays even.

To see just how dedicated Abu Risha was to what he was doing, check out this uplifting interview WaPo did with him on July 30, 2007, but didn't see fit to print until after he was dead.


"We thank everyone [in the United States] who is sending their sons here."
-Abu Risha
July 30, 2007

Edited to add: CNN report of the assassination.