URL: http://washingtontimes.com/world/20031208-111942-6488r.htm
Published December 9, 2003 UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL By P. Mitchell Prothero
Guerilla Leader describes world view, command structure
BAGHDAD -- The leader of a militant cell mounting attacks on U.S.
forces from its Baghdad neighborhood says groups like his operate with
little supervision from Ba'athist leaders but receive occasional help
from outsiders who may be al Qaeda operatives.
He also said his group, which came together in reaction to the
American presence in the country, does not seek the return of Saddam
Hussein. If the despised dictator were to return, "We will fight him,
too."
The cell leader agreed to a series of four interviews in mid- and
late-November using the pseudonym Abu Mujahid. Unlike many who offer
such interviews, he did not ask to be paid for it.
Each of the meetings was held after nightfall, in a public place,
the location and timing of which was set at the last moment. He
demanded there be no use of a satellite telephone -- from which a
location could be traced -- or of cameras or recording devices.
Challenged to prove he was really the head of a resistance cell
that mounts violent attacks on American troops, Abu Mujahid looked at
his watch and said, "Wait 15 minutes."
Sixteen minutes later, four mortar rounds fired from a
southwestern Baghdad neighborhood flew overhead, landing in the
compound of the U.S.-led Provisional Authority.
"God willing, we hit something this time," said Abu Mujahid,
smiling wryly. "Our mortars are very inaccurate. We cannot wait to aim
them, so we use timers."
He said he did not want to fight the Americans when they first
arrived in April.
"I had always looked at the American government as respectable,
until now," he said. "They are educated. They know how to build
things, how to think and how to work hard.
"They promised to liberate us from occupation. They promised us
rights and liberty, and my colleagues and I waited to make our
decision on whether to fight until we saw how they would act."
But, he said, the crime and chaos in the early days after Saddam's
fall convinced him and his colleagues -- all Ba'ath Party members --
that the Americans had come "as occupiers and not as liberators."
"And my colleagues and I then voted to fight. So we began to meet
and plan. We met with others and have tried to buy weapons. None of us
are afraid to die, but it is hard. We are just men, workers, not
soldiers."
Abu Mujahid said the guerrillas waging dozens of attacks on
American forces each day have a loosely organized command structure
that prevents any one man from knowing too many specifics about other
operations.
While some coordination and support exist between cells, most are
left to operate independently.
"We have to find ways to get our own money to buy weapons," he
said. "The Ba'ath Party members at the top were rich, but I don't
think many of them help us fight. They don't send us money or weapons.
"I have friends and colleagues who fight with the Army of Mohammed
[a cell based in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah] and they have
more money for antiaircraft weapons and explosives. Sometimes they
help us, but mostly we are left to our own," he said.
In early interviews, Abu Mujahid said that both Syrian
intelligence and al Qaeda members were operating in Iraq, but denied
receiving direct assistance from them. But in later interviews, he
said he had received support from people he suspected had ties with
terrorist organizations.
"In my neighborhood, we have many students from Yemen, Syria and
Jordan," he said. "Several of them give us money to buy weapons and
conduct operations."
When asked if he thought these students were members or supporters
of al Qaeda, he smiled and shrugged.
"How does a student living in Iraq get money to give to me to buy
RPG-7s?" he asked. "The Syrian ones I think they get money from their
government, but we get some money from Yemenis and Saudis. I think
they must belong to al Qaeda to have such money.
"But I don't ask such things. I don't like Osama bin Laden and
don't want to fight jihad against America. The Iraqi people just want
the Americans to leave our country."
Abu Mujahid explained in detail how his cell fits into the broader
network of resistance units.
"I know our men, of which there are about 10. And I know one
leader of another cell nearby. We both report to a leader who commands
five of our groups. He has a commander, who I know about but do not
know his name, who commands five of those groups -- about 250 men, or
25 cells.
"And that commander reports to a man who commands about 10 of
these groups. I think my organization has about 2,500 men. But I know
there is someone above him. But I only know the names of my men and
two men: the one above me and [another cell commander based nearby].
"So if the Americans arrest me they can only get me. If they
torture me, I can only tell them two names of commanders. Each of
those commanders only knows a few names and none of my men or the
other men in the cells."
When asked if this organization was put into place before the
invasion, Abu Mujahid said he thought so but could not be sure.
"We are told that Saddam might be at the top of the organization,"
he said, but personally he said he believes Saddam "is too busy
hiding."
"I think that the leaders above me are former generals who want to
replace Saddam when the Americans leave," he said.
In a separate interview, Abu Mujahid said his cell already had
decided that Saddam could not return to power.
"We actually took a vote at a meeting last week," he said,
laughing. "If the Americans leave and Saddam comes back, we will fight
him, too.
"Maybe if he were elected we'd allow it. But no one in Iraq wants
Saddam back. He turned into a thief and a murderer who made too many
mistakes."
Abu Mujahid said many American soldiers have offended him but some
have been polite.
"There have been some that say 'hello' or 'peace be unto you' in
Arabic to me," he said. "They give our children sweets and do their
jobs with respect. One of these men I even see as my friend. So we
were conducting an operation, about to shoot at a Humvee one night
when I realized it was the nice soldier. I told my man not to shoot
him.
"But others treat us like dogs. I saw one put his boot on the head
of an old man lying on the ground [during a raid.] Even Saddam would
not have done such a thing."
Another incident helped persuade Abu Mujahid to take up arms, he
said. He and some friends had been standing around drinking tea when
some U.S. soldiers in a passing Humvee jumped out and accused them of
yelling obscenities.
"They cuffed our hands and one soldier kicked me," he said. "Then
they released us because we had done nothing. It was that night I went
and got my gun. The next night I shot the soldier that kicked me. But
his [body armor] protected him. I don't think he died."
In the last of the four interviews, conducted at the height of the
U.S. counteroffensive code-named Iron Hammer, Abu Mujahid said his men
had taken serious losses.
"It has been very bad," he said with a sigh as U.S. air strikes
lighted the skies over southwest Baghdad. "We have lost more men to
these strikes and in arrests. One of our men was waiting to ambush a
U.S. Humvee when he was arrested."
The resistance fighter, like many Iraqis, had been issued a permit
from the coalition to carry an AK-47 automatic rifle, but was caught
with a heavy machine gun.
Abu Mujahid said his men paid $600 to have a sympathetic member of
the U.S. military translator corps replace the machine gun with an
AK-47 and that he expected the man to be released the next day.
After promising another meeting to mark the end of the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan, Abu Mujahid disappeared. Neither he nor his men has
been in contact since and their status cannot be established.
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