Sunni Jihad Groups Rise Up Against Al-Qaeda in Iraq

"Selling out the faith and halting the jihad for the sake of parliamentary seats..."

An intruguing analysis by D. Hazan for MEMRI (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):

Introduction

In late February and early March 2007, the London dailies Al-Hayat and Al-QudsAl-'Arabi reported on an escalation of the conflict in western Iraq between the local population and the Al-Qaeda in Iraq organization. Fierce battles were reported in Al-Amariyah and Al-Falluja between Al-Qaeda and the local Al-Anbar tribes, resulting in the death of dozens of Al-Qaeda fighters and in the weakening of Al-Qaeda in these areas.

Thus, for example, Al-Quds Al-'Arabi reported: "For the past five months or so, fierce battles have been raging in the cities of Al-Anbar province between tribal [forces] and Al-Qaeda in Iraq, with dozens of fatalities on both sides... [According to the tribes,] Al-Qaeda accuses anyone who tries to help the police force to maintain security and stability of being an agent of the occupation…"

"On February 25, 2007, a truck-bomb exploded near a mosque in Al-Habbaniyah... killing over 50 people - most of them civilians - and wounding over 100... The local inhabitants said that the imam of the mosque... had criticized Al-Qaeda in his Friday sermon the day before the bombing... About two weeks earlier, a car bomb exploded in a market in the village of Al-Bu Alwan, killing 10 people and injuring 12... A leader of the Al-Bu 'Isa tribe said that his tribe has formed armed militias [in the region] between Al-Ramadi and Al-Falluja that keep strangers from entering the area out of fear that they may be suicide bombers." [1]

Al-Hayat reported: "A leader of the Zuba' tribe, a lecturer at Al-Anbar University, said: 'Al-Qaeda's popularity began to wane as it increased its attacks on civilians, soldiers, and policemen, on Shi'ites and also on Sunnis who oppose Al-Qaeda's methods. In the second half of 2006, [people] began to take action against Al-Qaeda... The nationalist factions, like... Kata'ib Thawrat Al-'Ishrin and Al-Jaysh Al-Islami in Iraq, refused to join the so-called [Al-Qaeda-based] 'Islamic State in Iraq'... As a consequence, their men and commanders became targets for abduction and killing [by Al-Qaeda], which led to a wide-scale conflict in the region."

The papers also reported that a body called the Al-Anbar Rescue Council, headed by Sheikh Rishawi, has been established to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq. According to Rishawi, the council was formed by "25 tribes which have helped to recruit 6,000 men for the Al-Anbar police force, and have [also] formed an emergency force of 2,500 men under Rishawi's command... Rishawi added that, in the course of their activities, his men apprehended 80 armed fighters, some of them from Saudi Arabia and Syria, and placed them under arrest in Al-Ramadi prison." [2]

The current situation is the culmination of divisions that first appeared last year. Under the command of Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda in Iraq became the dominant jihad group in the country - a fact which generated resentment in the local Sunni jihad groups. The tension between the sides mounted prior to the Iraqi elections on December 15, 2005, as Al-Qaeda used violence and threats in attempt to prevent the Sunnis from voting. Tensions rose even further in the aftermath of the elections, in light of the Sunnis' insistence on taking part in the democratic process, and following reports about talks held by local Sunnis with the elected Iraqi government and U.S. forces with an eye to collaborating with them against Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The conflict escalated to the point of violent clashes and mutual killings, which led to the expulsion of Al-Zarqawi's men from several Sunni-controlled areas.

Following these events, Al-Zarqawi attacked the Sunni Islamic Party in Iraq, accusing it of "selling out the faith and halting the jihad for the sake of parliamentary seats." He called on the Sunnis in Iraq to join the jihad and to stop their collaboration with the U.S., threatening that harm would come to them if they did not: "We call on the Islamic Party to abandon this crooked path and the deadly slope that it has taken... It would have been better for them to call people to jihad for the sake of Allah... This is the last call to the Sunnis in general and to the supporters of the Islamic Party in particular: Whither are they leading you, and on what path are you walking?... Oh people of the Sunna, you have sacrificed and invested much; those among us who were killed were killed for the sake of Islam and for the sake of preserving the Islamic nation. Accordingly, do not be the harbingers of evil for the nation of the Prophet [Muhammad], and do not choose for yourselves a destiny of failure - because its end is evil and lamentation." [3]

Read it all.