Iraqis love and greatly value their children. This makes children especially vulnerable as targets for terrorists. That is a brutal fact. The official had gone on to say that on a couple of occasions in Baqubah, al Qaeda invited to lunch families they wanted to convert to their way of thinking. In each instance the family had a boy about eleven years old. When the families sat down to eat, their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family. My repeated attempts to verify the story failed to produce concrete proof, although many had heard similar stories. But the rumors showed how terrible al Qaeda's repuration for atrocities had become among the local people.
Ali told me people had been afraid in their own homes because of al Qaeda. And so Abu Ali and the local 1920s were the latest al Qaeda paradox. Al Qaeda, which nearly ripped Iraq apart, was driving former enemies into what I believe could be long-term alliances with U.S. forces. The 1920s knew that our people had moral fiber and were completely unafraid to close with al Qaeda in combat at any chance. The 1920s had come to respect U.S. forces for the punishment and losses U.S. soldiers could take, yet still keep clobbering 1920s, al Qaeda, and JAM, all at the same time. That respect helped create common ground. We all knew that we had to destroy al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda had made the 1920s in Baqubah our ally.
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