US Ally in Iraq Assassinated

I'm a little late posting this story, but I've just kind of been reading the news reports as they were updated this afternoon:

Iraqi tribal leader Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, a key figure in U.S. efforts to turn local residents against al-Qaeda in the restive Anbar province, was killed today by a roadside bomb, U.S. military and Iraqi sources confirmed.

Abu Risha was a leading member of the Anbar Salvation Council, a group formed a year ago Thursday that proved critical to a recent reduction in insurgent violence in the province. He worked closely with U.S. officials, a fact that made him a target of militants angry about his decision to cooperate with the United States and his ability to convince other tribal sheiks to follow.

As Drum points out, the AP notes that "suspicion fell on al-Qaida in Iraq," but BooMan digs out a Time profile of Sheikh Sattar from June which describes him as a bandit "building a personal militia, loyal not to the Iraqi government but only to him," who, by virtue of US support, was possibly blossoming into "a warlord who will turn the [Anbar] province into his personal fiefdom." BooMan says, quite rightly:

As should be obvious from this description, it wasn't necessarily al-Qaeda in Iraq elements that killed Sattar. In Washington, this guy was some kind of hero. In Anbar, he was a warlord that was known for highway robbery, who was cooperating with the occupiers and throwing people in jail without just cause.

Our country is having a debate about Iraq but it isn't a debate that is even remotely connected to reality.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.