Iraq's Waning Insurgency Scrambles For New Sanctuary

From Christian Science Monitor:

As violence falls in Baghdad, Al Qaeda in Iraq is taking its fight to desert outposts and rural villages.

Baquba, Iraq - Looking across a canal at Umm al-Gatan, a village of about 20 houses, US Army Lt. Drew Vanderhoff is nagged by one of the classic frustrations of counterinsurgency warfare.

"We know for a fact that there is AQI [Al Qaeda in Iraq] in that village," he says. Although he has the names and even biometric data of everyone in the village, 25 miles outside of Baghdad, he's still not sure exactly who's working with the home-grown Sunni insurgent group and who's not.

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