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Report of al-Qaeda capture of al-Qaim is bogus
Published reports that al-Qaida forces have taken over the Iraqi city of Qaim are false, a Marine official in Iraq said on Sept. 9.Witnesses and residents in Qaim, as well as people living in the surrounding villages, said Abu Musab Zarqawiâs al-Qaida forces brazenly took control of the city, according to a Sept. 5 Washington Post report. The report cites witnesses as saying al-Qaida forces had taken to the streets there, prominently displaying Zarqawiâs black banner from the rooftops and posting a new sign at the cityâs entrance that reads, âWelcome to the Islamic Republic of Qaim.â Other statements posted in the cityâs mosques describe the âIslamic Republic of Qaimâ as having been âliberated from the occupation,â according to the report. Numerous Internet news sources reported that the city has been placed under a system of strict Islamic justice known as Shariatâs Law. They said sources within the city reported the burning of a movie theater, CD store and beauty parlor, and said a womanâs bullet-riddled body was left in the street, bearing a sign that read: âA prostitute who was punished.â The city of Qaim â which sits only two miles from the Syrian border, at which U.S. forces have long fought to stem the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq â was the target of air strikes aimed at disrupting the insurgency there during the final five days of August, according to a 2nd Marine Division release. The divisionâs spokesman, Capt. Jeff Pool, told the Post he had no knowledge of increased enemy activity in Qaim, and the Post quoted a military spokesman in Baghdad who promised to âlook into the reports.â But Maj. Neil Murphy, a spokesman for II Marine Expeditionary Force, told Marine Corps Times that reports detailing an all-out al-Qaida takeover in Qaim were a âcrock of crap.â âSure, anyone can hang up a poster. That does not mean anything,â Murphy wrote in an e-mail response to questions. âWe have a battalion there. [The insurgents] are continually moving to try and find safety, but we are rooting them out and weâll root them out of Qaim, too.â Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-09-10 |
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