Shaykh Sattar looks around to make sure Channel 4's Alex Thomson is not within earshot as he talks with U.S. Marine Brig. Gen. John Allen, deputy commander for Multinational Force-West
I believe this is the first time a Western news outfit has filmed a meeting of the Awakening tribal shaykhs of Anbar. On that basis alone, I highly recommend giving it a view. But be warned, Channel 4's chief correspondent Alex Thomson's agenda-driven reporting is on display. Even though Shaykh Sattar describes to Thomson how his forces disrupted a plot by Al-Qaeda to attack Shiites with chemical munitions, the channel 4 reporter can't resist asking: "So, are we finally seeing here the American dream for Iraq taking shape or yet just another faction tooling up for a civil war?"
Perhaps Thomson should have put the question to Shaykh Sattar himself. If he had, he may have received a response like this:
"The time for dictatorship is gone, and we are welcoming the new dawn of democracy and freedom here. I expect the future to be much better for the next generation for they will live in a better world than we do today."
That's what Sattar told Spc. Ricardo Branch (1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd ID, Public Affairs) on March 7 at Camp Ramadi during the Ramadi Reconstruction and Economic Development Conference. Channel 4 was there. The screenshot above attests to it, even though no mention is made of the conference, nor its aims, in the Channel 4 report.
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Previous blogging at alphabet city on Shaykh Sattar, the Awakening Movement and the Anbar Salvation Council:
