September 13, 2007 - On September 3rd President Bush flew into Anbar Province to showcase progress in the Iraqi war in advance of General Petreaus’ report to the Congress on September 10th.  He met with a delegation of Sunni Sheiks newly aligned with the Americans in the struggle against Al Qaeda.  The group was led by Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi. One photo that emerged from the photo-op inside the heavily fortified American base showed the President with a “What-Me-Worry” expression on his face standing behind the Sheik who wore a concerned expression.  On September 10th and 11th General Petreaus testified to the House and Senate committees making the new alliance between the US and the Sunni tribes of Anbar the centerpiece of his surge strategy success story.  On September 12th Sheik Abdul Sattar and two of his bodyguard were killed when a bomb planted outside his home exploded.  President Bush approval has proved to be a kiss of death. 

It was in September of 2006, long before the “Surge” was conceived and planned.  He called the movement of 25 Sunni tribes that he led “Anbar Awakening”. It was in part a blood feud arising when Al Qaeda killed the Sheik’s father for opposing the imposition of Al Qaeda’s fundamentalism.  Al Qaeda kidnapped two of his brothers and shot another dead.  The tribal law of vengeance demanded that Abdul Sattar strike back.  Between last September and March he had met with the Iraqi Prime Minister and the country’s Interior Minister seeking support for his movement with little to show for it.  Only after the surge began did the US take him seriously. In an e-mail written from Ramadi Captain Travis L. Patriquin wrote of the Sheik, “He is the most effective local leader in Ramadi I believe the coalition has worked with since they arrived in Anbar in 2003.”  The Captain was killed by a roadside bomb shortly thereafter.

People who remember Vietnam will see the similarity of the Anbar Awakening program with the village militias armed and trained by the US in the Strategic Hamlet program in that war.  It was hailed then as the key to defeating the Viet Cong.  Skeptics warned  that the guns and training would end up being used against Americans and Saigon government forces.  Skeptics today are warning that guns being passed out in Anbar will end up shooting at Americans when Al Qaeda is driven out.

It remains to be seen whether Anbar Awakening will survive the death of its leader.  The successful assassination of its leading domestic foe is a strong message to the surviving leaders of the movement, “Death is the price of opposing Al Qaeda’s version of Allah.  Will there be another Sunni Sheik to stand in Abdul Sattar’s place and accept George Bush’s kiss of death?