Some Iraqi Officials See Progress Against Insurgents Despite Deadly
Car Bomb Attack
http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=BE8C42:2F72C9DMonday's blast in Baghdad, which killed at least 125 people, was
bloodiest terrorist incident in Iraq since fall of Saddam Hussein
Local residents look at the scene after a suicide car bomber blasted a
crowd of police and national guards recruits AP photo Monday's car
bomb attack in Iraq, which killed at least 125 people and left scores
of others wounded, was the bloodiest terrorist incident in Iraq since
the fall of Saddam Hussein. Yet, despite the carnage, some see signs
of progress in the battle against the insurgency, with the
apprehension of the former dictator's half brother and the capture of
a lieutenant of terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Iraq's
anti-insurgency efforts could also get a boost from local television
broadcasts of purported confessions of captured terrorist operatives.
Amid an almost-daily drumbeat of violence and bloodshed, Iraq's
minister of national security, Qassim Dawood, could not help but smile
last week when telling reporters about the capture of an al-Zarqawi
co-plotter. "We have reached a point very close to al-Zarqawi, and you
will hear good news shortly," Mr. Dawood said.
Even more expressions of satisfaction have been heard since Sabawi
Ibrahim al-Hasan, half-brother and former advisor to Saddam Hussein,
was taken into custody, reportedly with Syrian assistance.
Iraqi officials are eager to demonstrate that they are aggressively
pursuing every avenue toward a more secure nation. Yet, horrific
attacks, like Monday's car bombing, have always been more visible to
the public than subsequent investigations and detentions of suspects,
until now, that is.
Iraqi television has begun broadcasting what it says are the
confessions of detained insurgents. The program, called "Terrorists in
the Hands of Justice," has featured men claiming to have carried out
beheadings and bombings, in some cases with the alleged backing of
Syrian operatives.
Speaking on the U.S. ABC television network, Interior Ministry
Spokesman Sabah Kadhim said, in the face of horrific bloodshed, simply
announcing the capture of suspected terrorists is not enough.
"The people say, 'Well, if you have these people [in custody], why do
you not show them?'"
The authenticity of the taped confessions has yet to be verified, and
it is unknown to what extent detainees may have been coerced to speak
in front of a camera. But the television program already appears to be
having an impact on those who have seen it.
One Baghdad resident condemned the insurgents as Iraq's enemies.
"In fact such elements have affected the people and country, and they
are saboteurs," he said.
Reports quote Iraqi police officials as saying they have been getting
more tips about insurgents since "Terrorists in the Hands of Justice"
began airing.
But what of a longer-term impact? By channeling popular outrage and
resentment over terrorist plots, could the program truly weaken the
insurgency? Could it lead Iraqis who are embittered over the prolonged
U.S. military presence in their country to re-direct their anger?
Probably not, according to Muqtedar Khan, a scholar of U.S.-Islamic
relations at Washington's Brookings Institution. "When Sunnis watch
these tapes, they are going to respond by saying that these people
[suspected insurgents] are being forced to do it as a product of
torture. The Shiites are going to see these tapes as what is already
known," he said.
Mr. Khan says confessions of suspected insurgents will have a greater
impact, if and when U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq, at which point the
terrorists will no longer be able to say they are fighting a foreign
occupation.