Neigbourhood watch, Bagdhad style

Saudi jihadis out of Iraq?

In spite of the solidarity on show in yet another six-person demonstration in Dublin, the Iraqi insurgency seems to be faltering.

This heart-warming story caught my eye:

As the gunmen emerged from their cars, Dhia and his young relatives shouldered their Kalashnikov rifles and opened fire, the police and witnesses said. In the fierce gun battle that followed, three of the insurgents were killed, and the rest fled just after the police arrived. Two of Dhia's nephews and a bystander were wounded, the police said.

"We attacked them before they attacked us," said Dhia, 35, his face still contorted with rage and excitement, as he stood barefoot outside his home a few hours after the battle, a 9-millimeter pistol in his hand. He would not give his last name.

"We killed three of those who call themselves the mujahedeen," he said. "I am waiting for the rest of them to come, and we will show them."

No doubt had this happened in London, Dhia would have either been left cooling his heels in jail while the terrorists were left off scot-free. Or perhaps he could have been left to meekly offer himself to the terrorists, while pointing out to them any slippy patches on the floor of his home where they might fall and injure themselves and then have to sue him.