Notes from a Small Islamic Military Republic

[ECH1969]

Islamic militant and one of America's most wanted terrorists, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is now technically the leader of a small country. But probably not for very long.

There tends to be something a little odd about the world's smallest countries. The Vatican City, Papal playground and spiritual center of Catholicism, doesn't in fact have any permanent residents. Monaco, a parking lot for sports cars and limousines on the French Riviera, is a tax haven and gamblers paradise. And turn the wrong way down a street in Lichtenstein in the Alps, and you'll have left this tiny country without even knowing it.

But, the latest graduate to the world of miniature statehood, the "Islamic Republic of Qaim," is unlikely to be on the geopolitical radar for very long.

The town, population 30,000, lies 2 miles from the Syrian border, and is now bustling with Islamic fighters, who have begun executing "collaborators" and punishing residents for anti-Islamic practices (e.g. drinking alcohol). The report details an array of horrific acts committed by the militants and foresees a major showdown with allied forces in the coming days. Families have begun fleeing the violence in expectation of a major military assault on the town.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,373376,00.html

[enigma000]

1. Well bravo for him

al-Zarqawi must be pleased with himself: lots of heads for him to chop off. Why stop with the Islamic Republic of Qaim? Turn the entire Sunni Triangle into the Islamic Republic of Loser-stan - an impoverished, oil-less, isolated fiefdom of misery.

Man, every Arab in the Middle East will be immigrating there in no time. No wonder the Shiite Arabs and Kurds are getting sick of the Sunni Arabs.

[krkaufman]

2. Very possible that this mini-state was declared...

... to draw military attention and forces away from somewhere else. When the US military strikes Qaim, I expect we'll see an insurgent/terrorist offensive in another area of Iraq. (It just doesn't make any sense for al Zarqawi to make himself such a hard target in Iraq.)