[Mb-civic] Iraq's Insurgents: Who's Who - Jonathan Finer - Washington Post Sunday Outlook

[William Swiggard]

Iraq's Insurgents: Who's Who

By Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Sunday Outlook
Sunday, March 19, 2006; B03

Long considered a fragmentary and disorganized collection of groups with 
varying tactics and aims, Iraq's insurgency is showing signs of 
increasing coordination, consolidation and confidence, those who study 
it now say. There is no consensus on the precise number of insurgent 
fighters, but estimates range from a few thousand to more than 50,000. 
The vast majority of insurgents, probably more than 90 percent, are 
believed to be Iraqis from the Sunni minority group that largely ruled 
the country before the fall of Saddam Hussein. But U.S. commanders say 
that most of the deadliest attacks, and particularly suicide attacks, 
are committed by foreigners from a range of neighboring countries, 
including Jordan, Syrian, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Sudan.

-- Jonathan Finer

Larger Groups

The formation of the Mujahidin Shura Council , announced on Jan. 21, was 
a sign of the once-diffuse insurgency's consolidation around the 
leadership of a few large, powerful groups. It brought together the 
foreign-backed network of al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian Abu Musab 
al-Zarqawi, and several smaller, Iraqi-led groups. The council's head 
was said to be an Iraqi, a move made to counter the image of al-Qaeda as 
dominated by Arabs from elsewhere in the region. This appointment may be 
little more than a public relations move. The group's tactics include 
attacks carried out with bombs, small arms and mortar against Iraqi and 
American soldiers, as well as, increasingly, Iraqi civilians, most of 
them Shiites. Two of its "brigades," or affiliates, (the bin Malik and 
the Al-Ansar) are devoted solely to suicide attacks. Another, the Omar 
Brigade, is said to target only members of the Badr organization, a 
feared Shiite militia.

Ansar al-Sunnah , which means "partisans of the law," is an offshoot of 
a group called Ansar al-Islam, which was formed in Kurdistan but has not 
been heard from in many months. The vast majority of its leaders and 
foot soldiers are Iraqi Sunnis who adhere to a strict, fundamentalist 
form of Islam called Salafism, which calls for a return to the practices 
of early Muslims and has gained radical expression throughout the Arab 
world. Their tactics -- including lethal suicide attacks -- and 
religious underpinnings are similar to those of al-Qaeda, but the two 
groups are considered bitter rivals for influence within the insurgent 
community. Among their best-known attacks was a roadside bomb blast that 
killed 14 Marines and an interpreter in August, the deadliest such 
attack of the war.

The stated goal of the Islamic Army in Iraq is to drive the U.S. 
military out of Iraq. Comprised almost entirely of Iraqi Sunnis, 
including many still loyal to Saddam Hussein's regime and Baath Party, 
it is considered more nationalistic than religious in motivation. As 
many as three-quarters of its attacks, which include improvised bombs 
and kidnappings but not suicide attacks, are conducted against U.S. 
forces and non-Iraqi contractors. It often releases video footage of its 
operations. The group publishes a monthly magazine called al-Fursan and 
has denied rumors circulating last summer that it was in discussions 
with Iraqi officials about laying down its weapons. Its members 
reportedly include a sniper named "Juba," who gained a cult following 
when he was said to have killed several American soldiers in Baghdad 
last summer and fall.

There is some discussion as to whether the Islamic Front of the Iraqi 
Resistance , one of the most highly publicized insurgent organizations, 
is actually an armed group or something of a public relations organ for 
other groups. It maintains a frequently updated Web site and publishes a 
magazine called Jami, an acronym composed of its Arabic initials, which 
also mean "mosque" or "gathering." It has claimed responsibility for a 
number of attacks in and around the northern city of Mosul, Iraq's 
third-largest city.

Smaller groups

Mujahidin Army : A group that has released dozens of videos of bomb, 
rocket and sniper attacks, most of them directed against U.S. forces. 
Along with the Islamic Army in Iraq, it denied reports of rapprochement 
talks with the Iraqi government last year. It is one of a few smaller 
insurgent groups that called for attacks against Danish troops in the 
wake of the publication by a Danish newspaper of cartoons depicting the 
prophet Muhammad last fall.

Muhammad Army : A group made up mostly of Iraqi former Baathists and a 
few foreign fighters, it claimed credit for the 2003 bombing of the 
United Nations headquarters that killed 23 people, including the 
organization's chief of mission.

1920 Revolution Brigades : This group, which has claimed responsibility 
for a number of high-profile kidnappings of Westerners and Iraqis 
working with U.S. forces, is named for the Iraqi uprising against the 
British after World War I. The group calls itself the military wing of 
the Islamic Resistance Movement, another insurgent organization.

Conquering Army : A new group that has emerged in the past two months 
through a series of videos released on the Internet and to regional 
television networks showing kidnapping victims confessing to various 
"crimes" such as working with American forces.

Swords of the Righteous : A previously unknown group that gained 
prominence by claiming responsibility, in videos, for the kidnapping of 
four Christian Peacemaker workers, one of whom, Tom Fox of Virginia, was 
found dead March 10.

Iraqi Vengeance Brigades : A little-known group that has released videos 
showing American journalist Jill Carroll, who was abducted in Baghdad in 
early January.

SOURCES: SITE Institute, International Crisis Group, news reports

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/17/AR2006031702087.html?nav=hcmodule
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