| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Iraqi Sunni insurgents reject links with 'Awakening' |
| 2008-01-08 |
| The Islamic Army, the main Sunni insurgent group in Iraq, is adamant it will not make common cause with the Sunni militias tackling Al Qaeda with US support, and will instead fight the Americans “to the end.” “The Islamic Army has nothing to do with the Awakening councils,” Ibrahim al-Shimmari, official spokesman of the Islamic Army in Iraq, told AFP in an email interview. Self defence: “No one can be a member of the Islamic Army and the Awakening at the same time. Our war is for self-defence and we are targeting those who attacked us.” The Islamic Army is the most powerful Sunni insurgent group in Iraq. Well-established in the west and mainly Sunni centre-north of the country, the movement represents the nationalist wing of the country’s “resistance.” French academic Jean-Pierre Filiu, an expert on the insurgency, says there are signs of cross-membership between the Awakening and the Islamic Army. “On the evidence, the Islamic Army has a foot in these militia,” Filiu told AFP. “And in any case, they do not fight them.” According to Shimmari, the so-called Sahwa or Awakening forces - Sunni paramilitaries organised by the US military to fight Al Qaeda - have emerged due to the “misconduct” of Al Qaeda. Made up largely of former insurgents, the Awakening councils began their rise more than a year ago in the west of the country, where they put Al Qaeda to flight. They have since proliferated in Baghdad and to the north of the capital with American military support. “The occupation forces seized the opportunity (the conflict between Al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents) and supported the Awakening to help the troop ‘surge’ strategy of (US President George W.) Bush,” said Shimmari. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Ok, if that's the way they want it, send in the Wolf's Head Brigade to occupy their neighborhoods. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-01-08 14:20 |