An interesting article today from Aswat al Iraq. If the link doesn't work it is because the site is currently experiencing server problems which normally are not an issue.
Aswat al Iraq is a news agency in Iraq that was created in 2004 and does a fairly decent job of reporting the news in Iraq.
The article is a quick report of three armed organizations that a "security source" believes pose the greatest threat in Diyala Province. Those three groups are Ansar al Sunna (AAS), al Naqshabandia (JRTN), and the al Awda political party.
Now, I fully realize that I have been away from Diyala for 6 months now (that long really? Time really flys) but unless events have radically changed in the province I have serious issue with that statement. The only group I agree with is JRTN, and it surprises me that this source would admit JRTN is a threat.
JRTN is a fairly secret organization whose leadership is primarily made up of former high ranking military officers and Baath Party members. Their entire information campaign is that they only attack US forces and their goal is the removal of the US military from Iraq and then an establishment of a Baathist regime as the Iraqi government. While our Iraqi counterparts fully admitted the existence of JRTN and worked with us to remove the leadership, they rarely stated in public that JRTN was much of a threat and every time we detained a JRTN leader we had to fight tooth and nail to keep them detained. Either Iraqi authorities are beginning to realize that JRTN should be a focus or this source was Shia who already recognized that JRTN, a primarily Sunni group, was a potential threat to the current Shia dominated government.
The listing of Ansar al Sunna makes me laugh. AAS was all but eliminated as a viable threat in Diyala over the last few years. There were a couple of cells in Baqubah and reports of limited activity in the Tibij region just west of Jalula in 1-14 Cav's area but for the most part they lacked funds, weapons, and personnel. The activity they were reported to be conducted was kidnapping for ransom...a tactic used when a group has no outside funding and needs quick cash. The AAS boogeyman was normally trotted out as a red herring in an attempt to distract US forces or put out disinformation, for whatever reason. This was done a couple of weeks after the Jalula carbomb that killed 2 soldiers in July '10. After my section had laid out those responsible for the attack with the help of C troop and a few of those we believed were responsible had been captured, Kurdish leadership began reporting that AAS was actually to blame and pointed fingers at Arab miliary leaders as ordering the attack. Those leaders being the head of the Jalula Emergency Response Force and the 4th Brigade Intelligence Officer (my partner). It was, in my opinion, political maneuvering only but they managed to convince both the A and B troop commanders.
Mentioning the Awda Party as an armed threat baffles me a bit but doesn't surprise me. The Awda Party is a Sunni political party that was formed in the Ninewa Province became extremely powerful because they run a pro Arab anti Kurd platform, a platform that reminds me of the platform of some Neo Nazi organizations that claim they are not "anti black" they are just "pro white". They showed up in Diyala around September '09 with one of the leaders being the former mayor of As Sadiyah who was the political rival to the current mayor...who was Kurdish.
Awda operates exclusively in Arab-Kurd contested areas and in the Ninewa Province the party was so inflammitory that violence has broken out, mainly when the provincial governor (Awda Party member) attempts to force visit villages that are clearly controlled by the Kurds. Our squadron commander viewed the group as good for democracy in the region as it gave the local Sunni Arabs a voice and the group would work to put Sunni Arab interests on the table. I viewed them as a potential spark in the ethnic powder keg of the Hamrin Area Combined Security Area. While as far as I know, no violence was caused by the party while we were there it's possible the group has armed itself and my be acting as militia to counter Kurdish influence.
Interesting to note is the lack of groups mentioned. No mention of Al Qaida who conducts the majority of the spectacular attacks in the province and no mention of Jaysh al Mahdi or the Jaysh al Mahdi Special Group. Not totally surprised JAM or JAM SG aren't mentioned since they only attack Americans but they were the organizations primarily responsible for the sectarian violence of the past along with AQI. Give the group an inch and they'll take the Province. Not mentioning AQI may indicate that even the Iraqis believe AQI is all but dead in the area, potentially a good sign...or burying heads in the sand.
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