| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Zarqawi steps down as head of Iraqi mujahideen council |
| 2006-01-24 |
| In a further sign of the rifts emerging within Iraq's insurgency, Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has stepped aside as the head of a new council of radical groups in favor of an Iraqi, according to a posting on a Web site used by Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups. The statement, whose authenticity could not be independently verified, said Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, "who is Iraqi," had taken over from al-Zarqawi as "emir" of the new Mujahedeen Shura, or Council, which groups six extremist organizations including Al Qaeda and whose creation was announced last week. The formation of the council and the appointment of an Iraqi to lead it come at a time of deepening divisions within Iraq's insurgency over ways to respond to the new realities of post-election Iraq and how to prepare for the day when U.S. troops start going home. Most notably, some Iraqi nationalist insurgent groups are turning against al-Zarqawi and his foreign Arab volunteers, whose spectacular suicide bombings have served the insurgency's goals well until now but whose Islamic extremism has come to be seen as a liability by rebels whose aim increasingly is to secure a role for Sunni Iraqis in the new political order. A statement announcing the formation of the council a week ago, issued by al-Zarqawi's chief spokesman, explained that the council's purpose was to "unite the approach of the mujahedeen Â… in order to dismiss all the differences and disagreements and controversies," an acknowledgement of the rifts that have opened up within the insurgency in recent months. Though there was no way of independently verifying the information, the Web site is the main one used by Al Qaeda in Iraq to post news, claims of responsibility and videotapes of attacks. Since the council was formed, the claims of responsibility that previously were posted by Al Qaeda have been made in the name of the Mujahedeen Council. On Friday, the site's administrator named al-Baghdadi as the leader of the council, which comprises Al Qaeda in Iraq, an affiliated group called the Victorious Sect Brigade, and four lesser-known allied groups. Leading Iraqi nationalist groups, such as Ansar al-Sunnah, the Islamic Army and the 20th Revolution Brigades, are not included. A subsequent posting explained: "What Sheik Abu Musab did when giving up the title of Emir, this is a favor by the Emir of Slaughter to block the road to all those who say he is a foreigner." The Emir of Slaughter is an honorific used by extremists to refer to al-Zarqawi, America's most wanted man in Iraq with a $25 million bounty on his head. "He [al-Zarqawi] must be really under pressure," said Mustafa al-Ani, director of the Center for Counterterrorism at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. "There's been a lot of talk since the election about divisions between Iraqi mujahedeen and Al Qaeda, and this is to prove that even the Arab mujahedeen are led by an Iraqi and not a foreigner." Al Qaeda in Iraq also is looking ahead to the day when U.S. forces leave and is starting to realize it needs to form alliances and structures to further its dream of establishing a Taliban-style Islamic state in Iraq, said Jaafar al-Taie, a Jordan-based analyst who closely monitors the insurgency. "For the first time, the U.S. is on the defensive and is about to withdraw, so they're restructuring," he said. "It's an attempt to expand the breadth of Al Qaeda politically and militarily. You give Al Qaeda an Iraqi face, you give it a different dimension." There was no indication that al-Zarqawi's leadership of his own group, Al Qaeda in Iraq, is being challenged. The identity of al-Baghdadi, an apparent pseudonym signifying that he is from Baghdad, is not known, and it cannot be said with certainty that he even exists, al-Ani said. The real question now is whether the new council marks the emergence of a joint leadership of Al Qaeda and its allies, in which al-Zarqawi's influence is diminished, or whether the naming of an Iraqi leader simply represents a propaganda effort to fend off accusations by other insurgents that Al Qaeda is a foreign organization. Either way, it is clear that al-Zarqawi is feeling squeezed by the Iraqi insurgents whose goals are starting to diverge sharply from those of their former ally. Some insurgent groups have been reaching out to the U.S. and the Iraqi government with a view to launching negotiations to end their violent rebellion in return for concessions that would secure a role for the Sunni minority in an Iraq now dominated politically by Shiites and Kurds. "For the Iraqi mujahedeen, it's not killing for the sake of killing but to put pressure on the political process, in order to secure their position," al-Ani said. "They had a common strategy with Al Qaeda to get rid of the Americans, but that's not the question of the future. Zarqawi has no interest in any political settlement." In Ramadi, the capital of insurgent-infested Anbar province, Iraqi insurgent groups have fought sporadic clashes with Al Qaeda supporters in recent months, and local tribal leaders have been talking to the Americans with hopes of forging a common strategy against Al Qaeda. The tensions have risen sharply since a suicide bombing blamed on Al Qaeda earlier this month targeted police recruits in the city. Most of the 56 people killed were local Sunnis responding to a call by tribal leaders to sign up for a government security force they previously had shunned, and there have since been a number of tit-for-tat assassinations of leading figures on both sides. Exploiting rifts between Iraqi Sunni insurgents, whom the U.S. military refers to as "rejectionists," and the Al Qaeda radicals is a central plank in the U.S. military's exit strategy, and American officials point to the tensions in Ramadi as evidence that it is working. "We've seen recently Â… indications that the locals in Ramadi are taking actions themselves against the terrorists and foreign fighters," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said at a media briefing last week. "We're finding indications where the Iraqi rejectionists are taking up arms and personally providing information against terrorists and foreign fighters." But, he cautioned, Al Qaeda in Iraq remains a formidable force with the capacity to deliver the kind of devastating suicide attacks that have made al-Zarqawi Iraq's most wanted terrorist. "Zarqawi and the terrorists and foreign fighters, to which we attribute all the suicide attacks, still has a significant capability to surge acts of violence," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #16 "I'm stepping down to...er...spend more time with my family. The kids, you know, they grow like little boomlets" |
| Posted by: Abu Zarqawi 2006-01-24 21:23 |
| #15 Jaafar al-Taie, a Jordan-based analyst who closely monitors the insurgency: "For the first time, the U.S. is on the defensive and is about to withdraw, so they're restructuring," he said. "It's an attempt to expand the breadth of Al Qaeda politically and militarily. You give Al Qaeda an Iraqi face, you give it a different dimension." Sounds like this guy spends too much time watching CNN and reading the Daily KOS. I'm not sure where else he would get the idea that the US is on the defensive and that we would leave before most of al Quaeda is dead. |
| Posted by: RWV 2006-01-24 20:00 |
| #14 LOL |
| Posted by: 6 2006-01-24 19:23 |
| #13 He'll probably end up as a color commentator on al-Jazeera for a year or so, then land on his feet as an offensive coordinator somewhere. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2006-01-24 18:28 |
| #12 Congratulations, now die. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-01-24 16:51 |
| #11 Sounds to me like Zarq may be giving up on Iraq and planning to go elsewhere. Either it's gotten too hot for him, or he's exhausted his welcome, or both. We need to keep an eye open for him showing up somewhere else, possibly in Pakistan or Lebanon. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-01-24 16:46 |
| #10 Easing the deadman into retirement. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-01-24 15:51 |
| #9 The statement, whose authenticity could not be independently verified, said Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, "who is Iraqi," had taken over from al-Zarqawi as "emir" of the new Mujahedeen Shura, or Council . . . In other words: "Drop the JDAM on Rashid, not on me! He's the one you want!" |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-01-24 15:33 |
| #8 SteveS says, "This is starting to sound like a classic corporate re-org. First the CEO steps down. Then the company tries to rebrand itself..." just what color was his parachute stock options?? pension?? health plan?? no bid consulting? |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-01-24 15:12 |
| #7 I'm holding out for "Duke of Earl". |
| Posted by: Steve 2006-01-24 15:04 |
| #6 Does the new guy become the new "Emir of Slaughter"? Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2006-01-24 11:54 |
| #5 Or option three. Zarq has been demoted and sent to organize the attack on Europe. |
| Posted by: Danielle 2006-01-24 11:44 |
| #4 To me, this suggests one of two things: 1) Zarq is dead 2) This reorganization is a bluff, and he'll still be running the show. |
| Posted by: Jimp Ebboter5520 2006-01-24 11:35 |
| #3 This is starting to sound like a classic corporate re-org. First the CEO steps down. Then the company tries to rebrand itself. Then its market share goes all to hell. Guess the "Al Qaida In Iraq" thing is not working so well. I eagerly await Al Qaida Classic. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2006-01-24 11:28 |
| #2 I know how he feels. Go to enough of these rubber chicken events and you decide you just can't play the game anymore. Not even the gold watch is worth the tedium. Geriatric gasbags droning on and on endlessly... Makes a guy wanna 'splode, y'know? |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-24 09:33 |
| #1 We seem to know more about him then we do with the Oil for Food, and now Peacekeeping money problems, but we can't find him? Makes information like this hard to believe. |
| Posted by: plainslow 2006-01-24 08:23 |