al-Baghdadi's Dilapidated Theatre

clipped from www.captainsquartersblog.com The leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq will never run short on enemies, mostly because they hate everybody. Today they issued a statement declaring war on the Sunni tribes of western Iraq, a move that will undoubtedly underscore the folly of believing them to be liberators in the post-invasion, pre-surge period: AQI probably realizes that the new offensive and the targeting of tribal leaders will only push the Sunnis closer to the Baghdad government, but they're running out of options. They can't beat the Americans in a stand-up fight, or even with guerilla warfare as long as local populations can't be intimidated into providing them with cover. Their attacks on tribal leaders will inflame Sunnis against the foreigners and create even more recruits for Iraqi security forces, which will help cement ties to the elected government as more Iraqis take over security efforts in the west. In fact, they've become so desperate that they've returned to using "Abu Omar al-Baghdadi" in their audio tapes.