NationStates Jolt Archive

This is an interesting article that I found on the english AlJazeera site. It's accurate as far as what I understand on this subject.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/05C28140-6985-4A55-98AB-65CC37965246.htm

This is an interesting article that I found on the english AlJazeera site. It's accurate as far as what I understand on this subject.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/05C28140-6985-4A55-98AB-65CC37965246.htm

Interesting, Al Qaeda must be losing the hearts and minds of the Sunni's, if true this is certainly a positive sign for the Co-alition forces.

This is an interesting article that I found on the english AlJazeera site. It's accurate as far as what I understand on this subject.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/05C28140-6985-4A55-98AB-65CC37965246.htm

Yes, I do believe there is a difference between
a) Iraqi resistance, insurgents, who oppose the american occupation of Iraq
b) Al Quaida-groups, terrorists, who target both american forces, iraqi forces and civillians.

The terrorists are in general no friend to the common Iraqi.

Iraqi Insurgent groups in Iraq, those that could be called the Iraqi Resistance as a collective, have previously made it known that they want Al-Zarqawi's head for his indiscriminate killing of Iraqis and the damage he is doing to the insurgency's image.

Al-Zarqawi and Al-Qaeda have an extreme view that Shia, which is a branch of Islam like Sunni is, is not muslim because Shias do not recognise a ancient Caliph that the Sunnis recognise as a successor to Mohammed, a disupte that goes back thousands of years.

Al-Zarqawi advocates the killing of Shias as excusable because they don't recognise this Caliph, and because he thinks as a result they are not true muslims and are worse than Americans, and are 'Dogs'.

This killing of Shias in a purely religious and discriminate way threatens the image of the Iraqi insurgency, the unity of the insurgency which is made up of both Sunni and Shia Iraqis who follow differing methods to achieve the end of the occupation, the Shias by infiltrating the security services and government, the Sunnis being more direct in their efforts to end the occupation but are now starting to follow the Shia method also.

Shia Militants run sections of Baghdad and Basra and other parts of Iraq without challenge from coalition groups, and Sunnis are starting to do the same.

The US-led occupation is losing it's grip on Iraq, part willingly, part resigningly that the militants have contacts in the Iraqi Security services and government itself and it can not be rooted out.

But it's not all rosey for the insurgency.

Some Shia Militant groups take out their rage at Shias being killed by Al-Zarqawi's group by killing Sunnis in revenge in death squad assassinations, where the gunmen are described as being dressed in military or police uniform, usually because they are in he military or police.

The Iraqi run torture detention centres raided by US troops recently was run by Shias, torturing Sunnis.

Shias and Sunni militant groups occassionly clash, but both still realise that they need to stay united against the occupation as they see it, so Shia and Sunni militant groups rarely openly fight.

As the Sunnis follow the Shias in consolidating power in the Iraqi government as we shall see following the elections, the insurgency may quieten against Iraqi security forces depending on whether both Shias and Sunnis have infiltrated them, and attacks on US-led troops may rise as a result of still showing a militant insurgency instead of one that has infiltrated the government and security services and will be an attempt to weary the US, or it may lessen to encourage America to think Iraq is safe from militants and leave. Co-operation between US-led troops and Iraqi Security services and government will lessen. Al-Zarqawi and Al-Qaeda will be hunted. Sunnis and Shias may begin power struggles, the Kurds are left in the cold, and may go for independence

It is a victory for the insurgency. But a victory for a united insurgency? That, we shall see.