The reputed leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq says the country's fledgling army is as great an enemy as the Americans. He also brushed aside calls for him to abandon the insurgency in favour of peace talks with the Iraqi government and the Americans. In an audiotape found on the internet, a man claiming to be Abu Musab al-Zarqawi also announced the formation of a new terror command to fight Iraq's biggest Shi'ite militia. His comments appeared aimed at discouraging armed Iraqi groups from entering talks with the Iraqi government. He challenged critics who maintain that fighting US troops is legitimate but who oppose attacks on Iraqi forces. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other officials have said US representatives have participated in meetings with Sunni insurgents in an effort to help the Iraqi government draw the militants into the political process."Some say that the resistance is divided into two groups - an honourable resistance that fights the nonbeliever-occupier and a dishonourable resistance that fights Iraqis," the speaker said. "We announce that the Iraqi army is an army of apostates and mercenaries that has allied itself with the crusaders and came to destroy Islam and fight Muslims. We will fight it."
The speaker tacitly acknowledged pressure to abandon the struggle against the Americans and their Iraqi allies, saying he was "saddened and burdened" by people "advising me not to persist in fighting in Iraq". "How long will the people of knowledge stay away from the battlefield of jihad, issuing verdicts and giving advice that are far from the reality that the nation is living?" he asked.
In an impassioned defence of the insurgency, the speaker said al-Qaeda was willing to fight to the end "so that the women are freed from the prisons of the Crusaders and the spiteful Shi'ites". "Some want us to end our jihad in Iraq," he said. "God has ordered us to fight the non-believers ... we think that the nation is committing a sin by failing to support the mujahideen."
He said the Americans began speaking of negotiations to end the conflict after al-Qaeda had "humiliated" US forces on the battlefield. "Didn't they (the Americans) plan to turn against Syria and its people after invading Iraq under the pretext that it is giving refuge to Baathists and is not stopping the infiltration of fighters," he said.
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It was impossible to determine whether the speaker was Zarqawi, although the voice sounded like ones on tapes US officials have acknowledged were made by the Jordanian-born terror mastermind. It could also not be determined when the speech was delivered, although the speaker refers to codenames for US military operations launched in recent weeks.
The speaker said al-Qaeda in Iraq would soon unveil a new unit, the Omar Corps, to "eradicate" the Badr Brigade, a militia of the country's biggest Shi'ite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
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