Signs of Division Show in Iraq Insurgency By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer There are growing signs of hostility between secular Iraqi insurgents and Muslim extremists — some of them foreigners — fighting under the banner of al-Qaida.
The factions have exchanged threats and are increasingly divided over the strategy of violence, much of it targeting civilians, that aims undermine the fragile new government.
The increased tension, critically, arises as the mainstream component of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency — which remains active, deadly and vibrant nearly two years since it began — has opened a campaign designed to reap political gain out of its violent roots.
Post-election realities appear to have forced the tactical change as majority Shiites and Kurds consolidate power and the population grows increasingly angry over the largely Sunni-driven insurgency that is killing vast numbers of ordinary people and the country's fledgling army and police force.
"You see a withering of the insurgents that had a short-term agenda, like preventing the January election. But the insurgency is not unraveling yet," said Peter Khalil, former director of national security policy for the now-defunct U.S.-led occupation authority in Iraq.
The divide among militants, however, is becoming more noticeable.
In Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province and a stronghold of the insurgency, homegrown Iraqi fighters have begun recently to air their differences in menacing fliers plastered on walls and distributed in mosques — making threats and denouncing the tactics of the extremists, according to witnesses who have seen the fliers.
Some of the fliers threaten reprisals against the militants or threaten to inform police of their identity and whereabouts. The extremists have not publicly responded, but residents say the fighters have kept a low profile since the appearance of the fliers in the Euphrates-side city and that some of them may have moved to the outskirts to avoid clashes.
Ramadi's insurgents argue that al-Qaida fighters are giving the resistance a bad name and demand they stop targeting civilians and kidnappings. Al-Qaida militants counter that Iraqis who join the army and police are "apostates" — Muslims who renounce their faith — and deserve to be killed.
"They have tarnished our image and used the jihad to make personal gains," said Ahmed Hussein, a 30-year-old mosque imam from Ramadi, speaking of al-Qaida fighters. "They have no legitimacy," said Hussein, who claims insurgency links but says he's not a fighter himself.
In Baghdad's mainly Sunni Azamiyah district, another insurgency hotbed, residents have repeatedly brought down from walls and street light poles the black banners of al-Qaida in Iraq.
The rift also involves Sunni Arab tribal leaders frustrated by the continuing violence. And it is being encouraged by Iraqi authorities in the hope that it would isolate the militants. Iraq's local TV channel, Al-Iraqiya has recently been showing nightly interviews with captured Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters, many who speak of alleged links to Syrian intelligence.
Iraq's newly elected president, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, urged insurgents to sit down and talk with the new government, but he's made it clear his offer is exclusively available to homegrown Iraqi insurgents and not to extremists or foreign fighters.
"We must find political and peaceful solutions with those duped Iraqis who have been involved in terrorism and pardon them, and invite them to join the democratic process," Talabani said Thursday as he was sworn in at parliament. "But we must firmly counter and isolate the criminal terrorism that's imported from abroad and is allied with criminal Baathists."
Ideological or tactical shifts within the insurgency are difficult to gauge because of the secrecy surrounding it and the different, sometime conflicting, agendas of its disparate groups — with the majority of homegrown insurgents hardcore members of Saddam's Baath party, former members of his army and security forces as well as religious nationalists.
Associated Press reporters in the insurgency strongholds of Ramadi, Baqouba and Samarra say there have been fewer attacks in those towns in recent weeks. They also report rising hostility toward militants associated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian al-Qaida leader in Iraq.
U.S. defense officials say nationwide attacks were down to 40-45 a day in recent weeks, lower than the pre-election daily average of 50-60.
The change was apparent after the Jan. 30 elections, with the number of U.S. soldiers killed dropping from 58 in February to 33 in March — the lowest monthly death toll since 20 American soldiers were killed in February 2004, according to an Associated Press count.
Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed news reports in Arab media that factions of the insurgency may be indirectly negotiating with authorities to lay down their arms in return for amnesty, jobs and reconstruction money. The Iraqi government has not commented.
There is a growing feeling among Sunni Arabs that boycotting the landmark Jan. 30 election may have been a mistake. Shunning the vote left Sunni Arabs, who make up 15 percent to 20 percent of Iraq's estimated 26 million people, with less than 20 of parliament's 275 seats.
Some experts believe the insurgency has begun to rely on Sunni Arab leaders, particularly the influential clerics of the Association of Muslim Scholars, to act as its political wing.
Many in Iraq see this as a division of labor in the pursuit of political gains, with one Iraq expert — Ahmed S. Hashim, of the U.S. Naval War College — saying it mirrors the arrangement between the Irish Republican Army in British-ruled Northern Ireland and Sinn Fein.
"The insurgency's political wing needs the leverage provided by the military wing," said Hashim who had spent time in postwar Iraq. "Military operations ensure that Sunni Arabs can be taken seriously," he said.
In the most striking example so far of the shifting Sunni ground, the Association of Muslim Scholars — which has tacitly supported the insurgency — made a surprise about-face last week and appealed to supporters to join Iraq's nascent army and police.
If heeded, that move could improve the perception of Iraq's U.S.-trained army and police as the exclusive domain of Shiites and Kurds. it also could — significantly — lure away from the insurgency any fighters looking for a regular income and a less perilous life.
In addition, in towns across the mostly Sunni Arab Anbar province, worshippers have recently been asked to fill questionnaires about whether Sunni Arabs should take part in drafting the country's new constitution or participate in the next general election.
It's not known who is behind this polling exercise, but those who received the forms were asked to return them to mosque imams.
US embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The United States shut its embassy in Yemen for what it called 'administrative work' after Britain suspended operations at its mission, citing a 'credible security threat'.(AFP/File/Khaled Fazaa)
U.S. Embassy in Yemen Closes After Warning
Sat Apr 9, 8:03 AM ET
SAN'A, Yemen - The United States and Britain closed their embassies in Yemen for security reasons Saturday after warning against travel to the country.
U.S. Embassy spokesman John Balian did not elaborate on the security concern or say how long the embassy would remained closed.
On Friday, the State Department said the threat to U.S. citizens "remains high due to terrorist activities" and authorized the voluntary departure of non-emergency personnel and eligible family members. It also advised U.S. citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Yemen.
The State Department said it was concerned that extremists might carry out attacks against U.S. citizens or interests and that the embassy may temporarily close or suspend public services occasionally for security reasons.
The British Embassy also closed to the public Saturday citing security reasons.
On Friday the British government warned its citizens to avoid travel to the area around Sa'dah, a city 125 miles northwest of San'a where clashes between government troops and supporters of a slain rebel Shiite cleric have killed at least 43 troops and 37 militants since March 28.
Yemen is the ancestral home of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. In 2000, al-Qaida suicide bombers blew a hole in the destroyer USS Cole as it refueled in Yemen's Aden harbor, killing 17 sailors.
While long tolerating Muslim extremists, Yemen cracked down on militants following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and aligned itself with the U.S.-led war on terror.