Prime Minister al-Maliki says that terrorism is declining:
Al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, told reporters that "terrorist acts" including car bombings and suicide attacks have dropped by 77 percent from last year's high, a sign that Sunni-Shiite violence "is closed now."
"When the sectarian strife is over, then I will not fear the gangs who are running between the provinces," al-Maliki said, an apparent reference to al-Qaida and other Sunni religious extremists that have been driven from the capital. [Emphasis added]
"The majority of these terrorists are fleeing to nearby countries, and I warned our brothers in the Islamic and Arab countries to be aware in order that they not harm these countries," he said.
I don't know why AP offers their opinion that a reference to gangs means al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents. I assumed that when Maliki said "gangs" he was referring to actual criminal gangs.
You see, the criminal gangs are one part of the violence problem in Iraq. Their kidnappings, murders, and other crimes have simply merged with the overall political violence as viewed from the outside. With the government focused on the far more dangerous politically motivated violence, the criminal gangs have been able to go on their own crime spree that has added to the image of a violence-wracked society without much resistance from the authorities.
But with the insurgents and terrorists knocked back, the criminal gangs can now be addressed by the government. These guys are motivated by profit. So when the government can go after them, they will likely fold much faster than the terrorists and insurgents.
So thanks for that deep insight, Associated Press. Thank goodness for journalism majors.
UPDATE: Ok, let me retract his one. I misfired here. While I had been thinking about the next step of focusing on criminal gangs and the idiocy of our press corps in general, I was wrong on this charge of idiocy. The reporter, I am sure, was accurately describing Maliki's remarks as applying to the jihadis as the last paragraph indicates.
There really are criminal gangs in Iraq that must be dealt with. But this article was not about the criminal gangs despite my thinking about the topic at that moment. I apologize to the reporter (as if he ever read this to be offended in the first place, I admit).
