Think Progress

Sattar Abu Risha

By Faiz Shakir on Sep 13th, 2007 at 11:13 am

Sattar Abu Risha

risha– the head of the Anbar Salvation Council who President Bush had credited for ushering in “bottom-up reconciliation” in Anbar — has been killed in an IED attack. Just 10 days ago, Bush visited Risha in Iraq and hailed his efforts in “cooperating with the United States against al Qaeda in Iraq.” Today, he was killed in an explosion near his house in the Anbar province. Risha had an unsavory reputation with many Sunnis. Abu Aardvark’s Marc Lynch referred to Risha as “a two bit, corrupt petty shaykh.”




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57 Responses to “Sattar Abu Risha”

  1. troqua Says:

    Don't go hunting with Cheney.

    Don't shake hands with Bush.


  2. Ned Says:

    The surge is working. We're kicking ass in Iraq. War is Peace.


  3. Fan_of_Man Says:

    oh that kiss of death... did bush tap his foot in the bathroom?


  4. katy Says:

    well, in that picture, the guy looks like he would
    rather be anywhere else...
    maybe he also knew of the chance he was taking,
    being seen with, and shaking hands with, the great satan and all...
    ...


  5. Jay Randal Says:

    Bush shaking hands with him caused the guy to be assassinated. Iraqis considered him a traitor for kissing up to President Dubya.



  6. Arthur C. Says:

    "Petraeus: Progress In Anbar ‘Breathtaking'"

    But shaking hand with Bush = death.

    Petraeus is a careerist suck-up whose opinion on Iraq was written by the White House. His assesment isn't worth a crap.


  7. john o. Says:

    I love the smell of exploding IED's in the morning. It smells like victory!


  8. blogenfreude Says:

    First time Bush actually knows someone who died in Iraq. Will it make an impression on ...? Oh, who am I kidding.


  9. Garçon Says:

    Progress that bush! In your face!


  10. buzzbomb Says:

    Wow, Anbar sure is a safe and secure place.


  11. Alan H. Says:

    Bush has the Midas...er..the Medusa touch. Everything he touches is destroyed, killed, gutted, eradicated.

    People, corporations, governments, nations, ideas, programs, Saudis, Europeans, children...no one is safe.


  12. BushToPayForHisSins? Says:

    There's a whole lot of kill'n go'n on. And for what? Just so those 20 percenters can wave a flag and spew hate toward something and someone they don't understand?

    That handshake was the kiss of death. Everything Bush touches dies a horrid death.


  13. hellinabucket Says:

    He does have the Zappa look Ringo.


  14. TripMaster Monkey Says:

    Isn’t this guy absolutely critical to the stability of the Anbar province, which happened to be the big feel-good story Betrayus pushed as “proof” that the “surge” was “working”?

    Whoops.


  15. lonesomerobot Says:

    durn. i just submitted this post. oh well.

    fundamentally stupid to feature anyone who is suposedly helping us in iraq and such a highly publicized photo. the guy was marked for death.


  16. Roger_Roger Says:

    Hopefully we can still bring home the 30,000 or so troops by next summer like they said they hoped would happen. Without this guy, it sounds like we may need to be their with more troops longer. Very unfortunate.


  17. loretta Says:

    I think he has some kind of bad juju or something. None of his $hit is going right, and unfortunately we all suffer for it.
    It's time we all talking about the motivation behind this--the Iraqis' OIL. The Kurds apparently inked a deal recently with an oil company from Texas--big surprise, eh?--but the problem is that the oil-rich reserves are in the Sunni and Shia regions of the country.
    This week, the legislation fell apart in the Iraqi parliament--yet again. George Bush will not leave Iraq until he and his homies have the oil situation resolved in such a way that they will benefit for decades to come--and the problem is, We, the People, are footing the bill on both ends. Our tax dollars are being sucked into the black hole that is KBR-Halliburton-Bechtel--BLACKWATER, and the thanks we will get in the end is--you guessed it--higher energy prices.
    The way I see it, Chevron, Shell, BP Amoco et al should be funding this little adventure, as they are the recipients of the spoils in the end. All our troops are doing is SQUATTING on Iraq's oil reserves and acting as security guards, getting killed and maimed in the process, and if GW Bush had his way, they would never see veterans benefits for their sacrifices after it's over.


  18. Bienville Says:

    My mother told me yesterday about a family in Gentilly: They had been rebuilding their home. They just installed brand-new appliances - washer, dryer, refrigerator, everything... the next day they went back to keep working. Someone had broken the front door and stolen all the new appliances.

    A religious community center had just been rebuilt, repaired, refinished. They were ready to reopen it. Someone broke in and stole all the copper pipe from the building. They ripped out the drywall and pulled the copper out. She said they had done it without turning off the water (which I cannot imagine) - but, the water ran and ran until someone turned it off - repeating all the water damage that was done by Katrina.


  19. Garçon Says:

    What does that have to do with anything?


  20. Ringo Says:

    Here is some good, independent reporting from Anbar:
    http://www.michaeltotten.com/


  21. Ringo Says:

    Bienville,

    You on the right thread?


  22. LividLib Says:

    God Lord!..It’s Frank Zappa!
    http://www.science.uva.nl/ ~robbert/ zappa/ files/ jpg/ Sheik_Yerbouti.jpg

    Comment by Ringo — September 13, 2007 @ 11:20 am

    Frank would never have shook that dumb ass' hand!

    "Let's not be too tough on our own ignorance. It's the thing that makes
    America great. If America weren't incomparably ignorant, how could we
    have tolerated the last eight years?" - FZ


  23. bobh Says:

    okay. now no one will want to shake hands with drunky mcstagger.


  24. margaret Says:

    Hopefully we can still bring home the 30,000 or so troops by next summer like they said they hoped would happen. Without this guy, it sounds like we may need to be their with more troops longer. Very unfortunate.

    Comment by Roger_Roger — September 13, 2007 @ 11:33 am

    Roger are you for real?! That post of yours was either straight out of psy-ops or you're full of crap! Very unfortunate...gimme a break.


  25. margaret Says:

    fundamentally stupid to feature anyone who is suposedly helping us in iraq and such a highly publicized photo. the guy was marked for death.

    Comment by lonesomerobot — September 13, 2007 @ 11:30 am

    Yes of course, but then they wouldn't have been able to use him for political reasons! Is their goal to "win" the war or win the political battle?


  26. E_I Says:

    Associate with Bush, you're screwed.


  27. jb Says:

    W is snake bit....everything he touches turns to crap or in this case murdered.


  28. YouCantHandleDaTrugh Says:

    Just GREAT!!!

    It's established, Bush has the opposite of the Midas touch...no ....seriously he does


  29. katy Says:

    roger2 just might be on to something...
    "Without this guy, it sounds like we may need to be their with more troops longer. Very unfortunate."

    very unfortunate, indeed... or, just what the dumby wants...
    "who knows?"...
    ...


  30. DM Says:

    #9 ~ you might be on to something there. Bush is 100% local-minded. If it isn't in his immediate sphere of influence, it is irrelevant to him. This guy was someone he met, and the arrangement to meet and the negotiation of strategy required that Bush actually consider him and his motives. Given his unique situation in this mess, he might even have a nickname.

    So someone Bush knows, has met, has considered, and has worked with, has died. I think it will bring a little influence to his sphere.


  31. Chris L Says:

    #

    Hopefully we can still bring home the 30,000 or so troops by next summer like they said they hoped would happen. Without this guy, it sounds like we may need to be their with more troops longer. Very unfortunate.

    Comment by Roger_Roger — September 13, 2007 @ 11:33 am
    #

    Yes, this is the same 30,000 that Bush said would only be there for 6 months, not 18. When the surge first started, the right-wing was talking about how successful it would be, and they could pull the troops out in 6 months. Now, here you are admitting that the surge has been such a dismal failure that we might not can pull those extra troops out after 18 months, three time longer than originally projected.


  32. Wayne A. Schneider Says:

    Hey, TP. How about a HT to dlet, who let you know about this in the ThinkFast thread? It would help to encourage more tips on stories if you mentioned the people who brought them up. Just saying, is all.


  33. LividLib Says:

    did dumbass shake hands with any of the troops?
    let's hope not.


  34. The Dogfather Says:

    Now all we gotta do is find a way to get Chimpy to shake hands with Osama.

    Oh THAT's right -- Osama is "irrelevant" isn't he?


  35. Buck Fush Says:

    The hand shake of death - he was committing suicide when he touched the hand of the anti-christ.


  36. margaret Says:

    very unfortunate, indeed… or, just what the dumby wants…
    “who knows?”…
    Comment by katy — September 13, 2007 @ 12:00 pm

    They used him to tout "success", will they now use his death as an excuse to stay?

    Although I wouldn't be surprised if Risha had HIS own agenda as well of course.


  37. Cappy Says:

    When I heard this on NPR they said he had been killed by a carbomb which made me think," I guess this means his death doesn't count because the Pentagon isn't counting civilian deaths by carbomb".


  38. Jay Randal Says:

    Every time Bush is seen in a pic, with a huge grin, shaking the hand of a fool the person ends up dead or in some other kind of trouble. Kissing up to Dubya is never a good thing.


  39. Dumb_Fox Says:

    Abu Aardvark’s Marc Lynch referred to Risha as “a two bit, corrupt petty shaykh.”

    Is he talking about Risha or Bush? Hard to tell...


  40. Jay Randal Says:

    Most Iraqi leaders will try to stay clear of being seen with Bush now. PM Maliki is probably scared stiff today and might seek asylum in safe country to save his life.


  41. katy Says:

    ... will they now use his death as an excuse to stay? ...
    Comment by margaret — September 13, 2007 @ 12:17 pm

    that's what i was wondering...
    roger2 knows how to think like a CON because he is one...

    like randi always says, pay attention when they tell you
    what they are...
    ...


  42. Liam Says:

    Remember when the MSM got suckered into pushing the WMD Iraq war excuse.

    Well folks; The MSM have not learned a damn thing. They are still as gullible as ever. They are reporting that Bush has accepted a thirty thousand troop reduction in Iraq, as recommended by Petraeus. That is total bullshit on all counts. Here is the truth.

    Petraeus/Bush are not agreeing to that. They both say that they will need the Surge level in order to reduce the violence in Iraq, and if that succeeds, then they will reduce the Surge figures to 130,000. In other words, go back to the level that was there before the 2006 election. Now here is what the MSM, and frankly most of the Blogs are missing. Petraeus and Bush are both saying that if the Surge does not work, then they will not withdraw the 30,000. In other words, they are saying: If the Surge fails, then we are going to keep the full Surge level of Troops in Iraq. That is what they are saying.


  43. kirk in los angeles Says:

    a year ago i was banned from this site, americablog and a few others for post over and over : bush = death. for the first time i'm finally start to see other people use this exact phrase. i of course learned it during my act up days. it seems to me to sum up his very soul. just thought i'd put in my two cents.


  44. Louis Says:

    Amazing coincidence that Democracy Now! had an interview with Rick Rowley (Big Noise Films) about this just this past Tuesday!! Check it out... it's very worthwhile:
    EXCLUSIVE Report From Iraq: U.S. Fueling Sectarian Civil War in Anbar by Funding Former Insurgents to Fight Al Qaeda

    A short report about Sattar Abu Risha (still alive and well when interviewd by Rick) was on Al Jazeera, YouTube here:
    [ Part I || Part II ]

    I'm surprised you haven't posted this info...


  45. YouCantHandleDaTrugh Says:

    Look at that guys face, he knew he was up the creek without a paddle.


  46. margaret Says:

    'Abu Reesha was featured in a documentary, "Land of Fire," that aired on Iraqi state-run television in May

    Speaking in the al-Iraqiya documentary, Abu Reesha said his group was willing to "liberate all the villages near Baghdad ... and if the government asks us to participate in cleansing Baghdad that will be a great honor for us and we will respond to the call."'

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/13/iraq.killing/index.html


  47. Ringo Says:

    just thought i’d put in my two cents.

    Comment by kirk in los angeles
    --------------------------------------------------

    Thanks, now take your pills.


  48. pbg Says:

    Tell me again what violence we are presenting by our presence?


  49. Starve-A-Bush_Feed-A-Beaver Says:

    Bush has the "Minus Touch". It's the Midas Touch in reverse. Everything Bush touches turns to crap, misfortune, and failure.


  50. sense76 Says:

    the shake of death


  51. the Nutty Crunch Christ Says:

    >Very unfortunate. -Roger_Roger

    And, like everything you pack of idiots do, completely predictable....
    Same thing happened the merchants who were unfortuntate enough to be selling rugs at the lowest prices when Weinerman and his pack of rethug stooges were cruising the "indiana-like" market looking for bargains...

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/13/iraq.killing/index.html
    "Police said Abu Reesha was killed about a mile from his home, but the deputy head of the Anbar Salvation Council, Sheik Hameed al-Hayyes, said the bomb struck the convoy 50 meters from his home in a heavily secured zone surrounding the house."

    A little close to home for those darn foreign jihadis, right? This guy used to be one of Saddam's goons, seems like all his pals arent on board this little delusional hugfest


  52. the Nutty Crunch Christ Says:

    "Here is some good, independent reporting from Anbar"

    "good, independent" i.e. "telling me what I want to hear".... Baghdad isnt that bad and everything is Al-Queda's fault.... funny how you idiots are desparately trying to claim things are normal when thier not, that the cities arent full of fear when they are, and that its not true that 95 percent of the insurgencey are just nationalists and not sinister bin laden goons. no one willing to put forward any statistics is claiming foreigners are more than 5 percent of the insurgency.. we bribed saddams goons to turn on them, yet the body count still doesnt seem to be dropping.. hmmmm


  53. anonymous Says:

    ...is there ANYONE(besides laura and barney)who hails from this 'land that i love,'from 'sea to shining sea'from the 'purple mountains'all majestic,'and all the 'fruity plains,'ANYWHERE-ANYONE with an echo who believes this guy ISN'T delusional?


  54. troll alert Says:

    KABOOM !!!


  55. Eric Holmes Says:

    I am saddened by the loss of such a brave man. He was a real hero who will be missed by Iraqi and Americans. Al Qaeda needs to be stopped.


  56. annon Says:

    I just saw the film by Rick Rowley. What can I say about a man who takes Ali Hatem at his word? He is a spoiled rich kid who has no credibility and no one listens to him. This is the problem in America, not enough people really know what's going on and there is so little credible news.



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