Fallujah

The Sunni resistance is, however, a different story [from the Shiite resistance]. 'I was there in Fallujah earlier this year. It doesn't look like Iraq; it looks like Taliban Afghanistan. I didn't see a woman's face the whole time I was there. They are all hidden behind those dehumanising shrouds.' The resistance fighters he met there believed in either Sunni supremacy or endless jihad.

'It wasn't surprising. You only have to look at who they are killing to find out their philosophy. They don't want democracy and peaceful co-existence. If there was any way to negotiate with them, I'd support it. But how can you talk people like this down from their ledge? What can you offer them?'

Yasser then offers two crucial facts.

First, there hasn't been a single Shia suicide bomber in Iraq so far. That tells you something about who is trying to destroy security and why.

Second, there have been just three weeks this year when there were no suicide bombs in Iraq. They were the three weeks the US forces had Fallujah surrounded. Doesn't that suggest it is the base of the Sunni resistance? Doesn't that suggest it is right to deprive them of their base by force if necessary?