IRAQ: Revolutionary Leader, Al Qaeda's Arch Enemy Murdered

I wonder who on the Democratic side of the aisle gave Al Qaeda the Sheikh's coordinates? Petraeus pinned the assassination on Osama Bin Laden's organization. If there was proof positive that we are fighting the enemy, that we are fighting al qaeda, that we are fighting Islamism in iraq, this it it. Rally round the flagpole boys.

Sheikh's death threatens US success in Anbar Province CS Monitor hat tip Daryl

Sheikh Abu Risha, who rallied Sunni tribesmen against Al Qaeda, was killed by a roadside bomb on Thursday.

Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha who, in his own words, led a "revolution" against Al Qaeda in Iraq's western Anbar Province was killed in a bombing Thursday. His death has tarnished one of America's rare success stories in the war.

Sheikh Abu Risha's death, which was the result of a roadside bomb explosion near his home in the provincial capital Ramadi, comes at a crucial time. The Sunni tribal forces he led were moving closer to creating a formidable block with sufficient weight to provide representation for the embittered community in the government and counter those Sunnis who still believe in using violence to achieve their aims. .

"This is a tragic loss," said Gen. David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, in a statement released in Washington by his spokesman. "It's a terrible loss for Anbar Province and all of Iraq. ... He was an organizing force who did help organize alliances and did help keep the various tribes together."

His death came 10 days after meeting President Bush during his visit to Anbar.

UPDATE: 'A Terrible Loss ... for All of Iraq' By ELI LAKE

The murder of the sheik, who headed the Anbar Awakening, the organization now sending hundreds of volunteers to join the Iraqi national police and army, stunned residents of Anbar as well as their allies in the American military. The 35-year-old sheik was handing out certificates for food and medicine to the poor at his country villa for the first day of Ramadan. After the Ramadan ritual, the sheik traveled to the provincial offices for Anbar when along the road a bomb under his car exploded.

After news spread of the murder, the head of provincial security, Colonel Tariq Yusuf, placed Anbar under martial law with 24-hour patrols by his security officers. The Shiite-led Interior Ministry sent a team to investigate the murder and announced it would build a shrine at the entrance to Anbar province, on the road that connects Ramadi to Baghdad.

Rishawi, also known as Abu Risha, defied Al Qaeda in Iraq last September and managed to build the organization that was touted this week in testimony on Capitol Hill by General David Petraeus and by President Bush in a surprise visit earlier this month to the province, which until then had been too dangerous for American senior leaders to visit.

The murder of Rishawi sent tremors throughout Washington. General Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, issued a statement calling the bombing a "terrible loss for Anbar and all of Iraq." The general pinned the bombing on Al Qaeda in Iraq, which had targeted the sheik for months, but said he was confident that the work of the Anbar Awakening and its military wing, known as the Anbar Salvation Front, would continue.

A military officer monitoring the situation closely said the early forensic reports on yesterday's attack suggest the work of Osama bin Laden's organization because of the sophisticated nature of the bomb, which evaded electronic countermeasures and bomb-sniffing dogs. "The working theory is that a senior, highly trained Al Qaeda operative disguised himself as a beggar and managed to slip the bomb under the sheik's car," the officer, who requested anonymity, said.