[lbo-talk] The Ever-Mutating Iraq Insurgency

Yoshie Furuhashi critical.montages at gmail.com
Sun Jan 7 23:42:58 PST 2007


Bill Marsh, in "The Ever-Mutating Iraq Insurgency" (New York Times, 7 January 2006, <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/01/06/weekinreview/07marsh.1300.1612.jpg>), says that Al Qaeda reversed its fortune in Iraq, first by blowing up the Askariya Mosque in Samarra. By killing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Marsh claims, Washington unwittingly did favor to Al Qaeda: with the Jordanian leader -- the symbol of Al Qaeda's foreignness to Iraq -- gone, Al Qaeda has found it easier to recruit Iraqis. It, according to Marsh, has dominated the "Mujahedeen Shura Council," which has attracted and absorbed several other Sunni insurgent groups and proclaimed "an 'Islamic State of Iraq' covering eight predominantly Sunni provinces and bordering the largely Sunni nations of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria" on 15 October 2006. Bad news.

That said, Marsh also points out major Sunni insurgent groups that are more nationalist than sectarian, unlike Al Qaeda: "At least six other major Sunni insurgent groups are operating in Iraq. Although many share conservative Islamic goals, they remain distinct from the Qaeda network. Some are nationalist, rather than sectarian: they are primarily focused on ousting the U.S., rather than waging a larger struggle against Shiite Muslims."

For instance, Marsh mentions the "1920 Revolution Brigades," which "has expressed support for Islamic resistance movements that are not strictly Sunni, including Shiite-dominated Hezbollah in Lebanon. The group's attacks have been aimed primarily at the United States military and the Iraqi government."

The thing is that such groups as the "1920 Revolution Brigades" on the Sunni side are not in a position to expel the occupier and defeat sectarians of their and others' faiths on their own, nor are Moktada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army on the Shi'i side. The inability of two sides (both nationalist but of different sects) to come to even a tactical unity dooms Iraq to the US occupation for years to come. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>



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