[lbo-talk] Allbritton: 200,000 was misquote

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Mon Jan 10 04:46:47 PST 2005


URL: http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/000854.php

January 06, 2005

200,000 in the insurgency?

BAGHDAD -- There's been a lot of talk about the number of fighters in

the insurgency, with General Muhammad Abdullah Shahwani, the head of

the Iraqi Intelligence Services, being quoted as putting the number at

200,000 -- more than the number of U.S. troops in country.

He's been widely -- and literally -- misinterpreted. I have a

translation of the original Jan. 4 interview in Al-Sharq newspaper and

it's clear he's talking about the passive support of the insurgency.

Here's what he actually said, as translated by one of my fixers here

in Baghdad:

What is your opinion about the number of the armed fighters in

Iraq?

Officially call them 'terrorists' because they are doing terrorism

against the people and they are outside the law, Their number is

between 20,000 and 30,000, in all of Iraq, distributed in the Sunni

area. [The "Sunni Triangle" -- CA] And the people who live in this

area and emotionally support them, are about 200,000 without

offering them money or logistic support. As an example, they don't

give any information about their activities if they have this

information.

That means those 200,000 do not fight with the fighters?

It's impossible that the fighters' numbers reach 200,000. These are

those who live in the areas where the fighters are active. For

example, the right side [western -- CA] of Mosul is completely out

of control and in this area, the terrorists are very active without

any announcement [informing -- CA] about them for the local people,

and very often they offer them shelter (hospitality).

Copyright ©2002-2005 Christopher Allbritton. This weblog is licensed

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