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The Rise Of The Iraqi Jihadists
EFLMore than a month has passed since U.S. forces unearthed Saddam, but the threats facing American forces in Iraq are no less lethal with him in captivity. According to some U.S. and Iraqi officials, that is in part because of the rising influence and activity of Islamic extremists. These militants are assuming a leadership role in the anti-American insurgency as the ranks of Iraqis loyal to the secular Baathist regime dwindle. An Iraqi with close ties to the resistance says that a group of former Iraqi military officers held two meetings with religious militants last fall that established an alliance aimed at coordinating anti-American attacks. The Iraqi source close to the insurgency says militant groups employ networks of smugglers to take foreign enlistees over the Syrian, Saudi Arabian and Jordanian borders. Afterward the enlistees are ferried through safe houses until they reach a hub city such as Ramadi or Fallujah. A senior U.S. military official in Baghdad says religiously inspired violence will probably replace attacks by former regime loyalists as "the principal threat we face" as the occupation heads into its second year. Says the official: "Itâs already starting to shift." The jihadists are stirring up those sentiments in the one place that generally remains off limits to the Americans: the mosque. U.S. and Iraqi officials say a worrying number of mosques are providing support for insurgents, whether jihadist, Baathist or both. Early this month U.S. and Iraqi troops raided Ibn Taymiyah mosque in Baghdad, arresting the mosqueâs imam and 31 suspected militants and uncovering a cache of weaponry. Still, according to a senior military official, U.S. forces in Iraq have conducted relatively few raids inside mosques for fear of offending ordinary Iraqis. Says the official: "You could win the battle and lose the war." Many of the indigenous jihadists in Iraq practice Salafism, a stringent brand of Sunni Islam that was brutally repressed by Saddamâs regime after it began gaining adherents in Iraq a decade ago. A Salafist who claims to be a "manager" of an insurgent cell based near Balad says his group is part of a resistance movement called Mujahedi al-Salafiyah. The man, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Ali, says the Salafists model themselves on the mujahedin who drove the Soviets out of Afghanistan in the 1980s and on other international jihad movements. He says the Salafists have forged links with their former nemeses in the Fedayeen Saddam militia on the condition that they renounce their allegiance to the former dictator. An Iraqi close to the guerrillas says Salafists have become decision makers in cells as the strength of the Baathists has waned. A senior military official says the U.S. is paying more attention to the role of Salafists because of their "long-standing relationship to terrorism in other locations." The official mentions Algeriaâs violent Salafist Group for Call and Combat.
Posted by: Paul Moloney 2004-01-24 |
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