{"id":1317,"date":"2004-09-19T17:07:26","date_gmt":"2004-09-20T00:07:26","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2004-09-19T17:07:26","modified_gmt":"2004-09-20T00:07:26","slug":"is-zeyad-a-fake-or-just-uninformed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2004\/09\/19\/is-zeyad-a-fake-or-just-uninformed\/","title":{"rendered":"Is zeyad a fake or just uninformed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

zeyad, a pro-occupation blogger purportedly living in Basra has posted once again<\/a> a bizarre thesis, which raises many questions – such as, to what news does this guy have access? Is he oblivious or deliberately posting misleading and outright wrong information? and, Why, out of 172 comments currently posted to the thread on this entry, does not one person point out that his entire premise is wrong? Who are these people?<\/em><\/p>\n

I have to shed light on something that has been bothering me for quite some time. Events over the last six months or so seem to indicate a developing pattern of the violence in Iraq. Simply put, when there is a surge of violence in the south, it completely ceases in other areas of Iraq, and vice versa. In other words, whenever Sadr takes a rest, Zarqawi comes into action again.<\/p>\n

There were zero suicide attacks during Sadr’s revolt last April and May. They resumed when the situation was clear, as did activities of militants in certain Baghdad areas such as the old Karkh (Haifa street, Talayi’ square and Khudhr Al-Yass) and Adhamiya. They ceased again all together during the second Sadr uprisal last month, and now they look as if they are just starting again.<\/p>\n

It also looks as if it applies to US military actions as well, taking turns at Najaf, Sadr city and Fallujah, but that can probably be attributed to military tactics such as the reluctance to fight on several fronts at the same time. Furthermore, insurgent activities have worryingly spread to areas that are usually peaceful, such as Talafar and Haifa street in Baghdad. Even more confusing is the fact that some areas usually not peaceful (Adhamiya in Baghdad, Hawija), are unusually peaceful now, that is if you disregard the occasional mortar attack. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I posted a refutation <\/a>to his last assertion<\/a> that during al-Sadr’s second Najaf uprising, attacks elsewhere ceased. <\/p>\n

One more comment on Zeyad’s post. At the end he sends another unwarranted accusation Al Sadr’s way: <\/p>\n

Something else has been bothering me for a while. How come there are NEVER any suicide bombings whenever there is trouble in the south with Sadr? And why do the Sunni areas seem so peaceful?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I didn’t think Iraqis got Fox News. How else to explain how clueless zeyad is about events in Iraq? There was a suicide bombing yesterday<\/a> that killed two Iraqis and wounded eight and it was in Baquba, a city in the Sunni area.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Al-Sadr’s second Najaf uprising began approximately August 5 and ended with a peace deal approximately August 25. Let’s see what happened in Iraq during that time frame. From handy link collections in Today in Iraq<\/a>:<\/p>\n

August 6 & 7:<\/a><\/p>\n