In a Baghdad news conference held Thursday, January 26, 2006, Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said that the U. S., other coalition and Iraqi security forces have been getting help from an unexpected quarter in the past several weeks.
"The Sunni rejectionists... if you will... are conducting planned attacks against Zarqawi and his network," Lynch said. The Sunni Iraqis were favored under now-deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. Some Sunnis are suspected of carrying out a home-grown insurgency against U. S. and other coalition troops in Iraq.
However, al Qaeda has routinely killed innocent Iraqi citizens during its attacks. That's a situation that Lynch said has galvanized most Iraqis... including home-grown insurgents... against the foreign terrorists.
In fact, Iraqi insurgents have killed six key al Qaeda in Iraq leaders since September 2005. And "recently we've seen significant operations where the local insurgency has turned on the Zarqawi network and forced them out of Ramadi," Lynch said. Ramadi is an Iraqi town in Anbar province.
Al Qaeda in Iraq's ability to conduct operations has become degraded... Iraqi insurgents' actions, he said, are now contributing to this state of affairs.
"Zaqawi's on the ropes," Lynch said, noting U. S., other coalition and Iraqi security forces will continue offensive operations against the terrorist leader and his network.
(Above courtesy of DoD - American Forces Press Service and taken from part of a press release written by Gerry J. Gilmore)
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