U.S. and Iraqi forces in the volatile western province of Anbar have seized thousands of pounds of explosives and arrested dozens of suspected insurgents in a three-day sweep that has encountered little resistance and received widespread cooperation from local residents, military officials said Thursday.:...Since the combined force of Marines and soldiers entered the city of Hit on Tuesday, there has been no significant resistance or opposition," said Lt. Col. Christopher C. Starling, operations officer with the Marines' Regimental Combat Team 2. "The people have been overwhelmingly receptive and have assisted coalition and Iraqi solders in locating roadside bombs and weapons caches.":A Marine statement said there had been no fighting reported Thursday, no buildings destroyed and no airstrikes conducted.:
The combined American and Iraqi forces have searched hundreds of homes and businesses, according to witnesses, some of whom expressed gratitude for the operation.
If Iraqis in the predominantly Sunni province of Anbar are turning against the insurgents then that is an extremely encouraging development. The Iraqi insurgency is an overwhelmingly Sunni-backed operation. Yet Sunnis comprise barely 20% of the population (others say as little as 15%). Even if as many as half of all Sunnis support the insurgents that means that 90% of the country -- the other Sunnis, Kurds, Shiites, Turkomen, Christians, etc. -- are either neutral or actively against them.
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How do they win with only 10% support from the population? How do we lose?
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