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Sunnis Will Nab Zarqawi When "Ready"

(Washington Times) Rowan Scarborough - Sunni "fence sitters" in Iraq say they would be willing to take on master terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi and rid the country of foreign saboteurs if the Shi'ite-run government's new political structure is acceptable to them, according to a senior U.S. official. "The Iraqis will kill every foreigner who comes into their neighborhood when they're ready," said the senior official who has spent months in Iraq. The official, who has held numerous meetings with what he called "influential fence sitters," said they told him they are only tolerating foreign terrorists because they are a "pressure tool" to force the Shi'ites and the U.S. to consider Sunni political demands for more representation in the Baghdad government. The U.S. official said more moderate Sunnis are willing to get off the fence and start attacking foreign fighters once they believe the new Iraqi constitution, now being drafted in Baghdad, protects their interests. The official said the only way Zarqawi's terrorists can operate in Iraq is with the complicity of Sunni village leaders who provide safe houses and travel routes. Once the Sunnis revoke those privileges and turn on the foreigners, the insurgency will dwindle or disappear, the official said.
2005-06-29 00:00:00
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