Insurgents turn against al-Qa'ida

SUNNI insurgent groups that were previously allied with al-Qa'ida in Iraq have turned against it, killing its leaders, attacking its supporters and vowing to drive it out of the country. At least two al-Qa'ida commanders have been killed by Iraqi insurgents in Baghdad. Others have been forced to flee after insurgents passed their details to US and Iraqi commanders. Fierce fighting has broken out between insurgent groups and al-Qa'ida in Anbar province, west of Baghdad. Until the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qa'ida in Iraq, in a US airstrike last year, the groups co-operated with it in their bloody struggle with the coalition forces.

But the insurgents have come to believe that al-Qa'ida in Iraq is destabilising the country by the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, often with truck bombs.

Some senior Sunni insurgents believe that al-Qa'ida in Iraq shares the agenda of Iranian-backed Shia militias to plunge the country into ever more violent sectarian conflict rather than concentrating on the fight against the US-led coalition.

FRONTLINE: The Iraqi Insurgency
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1621558/posts

A few excerpts from the end...

NARRATOR: That's what Ghaith heard from this man, a local leader named Abu Deeb.

GHAITH ABDUL-AHAD: This guy himself, Abu Deeb, who was a cleric, at one point, he went to the mosque and from the pulpit he said, "We cannot build a state by car bombs." And the al Qaeda people in the village were upset about this. And it was like, "What, we don't know how a car bombing is not the right thing to do?" And they threatened him, this guy who is a senior insurgent. And now there's a huge split of what to do with al Qaeda.

NARRATOR: Abu Deeb was so determined to vote, he placed his men at the polling station to defend it from al Qaeda attack. The Sunni village turned out to vote. Throughout Iraq, the elections were seen as a success, although the people voted along ethnic and sectarian lines. The number of attacks on election day was barely 10 percent of the attacks during the previous January elections. Was this a success for the Coalition's security forces or a tactical response by the insurgency?

NARRATOR: This is the 2nd Battalion of the Iraqi Army's 1st Brigade, commanded by Colonel Mohammed Faiq. Col. Mohammed is a Sunni, a war hero whose unit shot down an American bomber in the first Gulf war. Now he is known for his aggressive pursuit of insurgents in his area, but he doesn't think the Iraqis can go it alone.

Col. MOHAMMED FAIQ, Iraqi army 1st Brigade: [through interpreter] Thirty percent of the country is controlled by the Iraqi police and army, but seventy percent of the country they do not control. This is a very important point. If the coalition forces left Iraq, that would be the end of Iraq. You could forget about the country called Iraq. There would be massacres in the street. No one would be able to open the door of their houses and go outside because people will kill each other. Sunnis will kill Shi'ites and Shi'ites will kill Sunnis. The Muslim will kill the Christian, and the Christian will kill the Muslim. It is very, very important that the coalition forces stay in Iraq.

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