Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: AFP
Byline:
Date: 16 October 2006
KIRKUK, Iraq, Oct 16, 2006 (AFP) - Masked nationalist insurgents in Iraq
told AFP they have begun talks with US forces, after a weekend meeting of
Sunni tribal sheikhs called for the restoration of ousted leader Saddam
Hussein.
In the northern oil city of Kirkuk, an Iraqi calling himself Abdel Rahman
Abu Khula said his movement, a group of former Baath party officials and
army officers known as the Islamic Army, would not meet the Iraqi
government.
"In reality, we only negotiate with the ruling power in Iraq and that is
the occupier," he said. "Today it is us and the Americans who are
controlling the situation in Iraq."
A US military spokesman had no immediate comment on the claim, which AFP
cannot independently verify.
Abu Khula said his group represents some 17 nationalist insurgent
organizations, and is seeking the withdrawal of US forces and the release
of detainees from US and Iraqi government prisons.
"The Americans have now decided to talk with us due to the escalation of
our heroic deeds and the development of our explosives technology for use
against their vehicles and bases," he claimed.
There have been repeated rumours about contacts between the Iraqi
government or US forces and the more nationalist elements of the
insurgency, but no US official has ever confirmed talks with armed
Baathists.
Abu Khula was at pains to distance his group, which is made up of largely
secular former regime elements, from Islamist insurgent outfits such as
Al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sunna, which are known for attacks targeting
civilians.
"The brothers in Al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sunna use explosions as part of
their strategies," he said, claiming that Baathists and Saddamists are
often wrongfully blamed for these atrocities.
"We do not target Iraqis, even their animals. We only target those with
links to the foreigners and against Iraqis. We chop off their heads."
The leaders of many of the Sunni Arab tribes which met on Sunday also
criticized Al-Qaeda and other religious groups for provoking divisions in
the resistance and attacking members of their tribes.
In the past three years of insurgency against US-led forces, rifts have
often appeared between elements of the resistance made up of the regime's
former security apparatus and religiously-minded groups linked to Al-Qaeda.
The latest statements came in the wake of a coordinated bombing campaign
targeting civilians in Kirkuk on Sunday, with suicide car bombs in a market
and in front of a women's teaching college.
These disputes have occasionally broken out into open conflict between the
two arms of the insurgency -- something US military commanders are
privately encouraged by.
In the western province of Al-Anbar, the hostility to Al-Qaeda linked
groups erupted into a full scale tribal onslaught called the Anbar
Awakening, which was hailed by the government.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a speech that another such
tribal alliance could be expected imminently in another province.
The meeting of 500 tribal chiefs and representatives featured self-declared
former Baath leaders who were less concerned with fighting Al-Qaeda than
restoring their deposed president.
"This gathering is to unify the Arab tribes in the face of the occupation
and its agents and to struggle against those who would divide the Iraqi
people," said Abu Bassem, who said he was a Baath leader.
Supporters waved portraits of Saddam and called for his release, calling
him the "legitimate" president.
Saddam himself appealed for the insurgency to be "just and fair" to the
Iraqi people, in a note delivered by his lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi revealed
on Monday.
"Resistance against the invaders is a right and a duty," he wrote. "Do not
forget that your goal is to liberate your country from the invaders and
their followers and is not a settling of accounts outside this goal."
Violence continued across the rest of the country which for the last three
weeks of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan has been gripped by a surge in
fighting.
A car bomb exploded outside an Iraqi bank in Suweira south of Baghdad,
killing 10 people and wounding 15, said local police Major Mohammed Hassan.
The agricultural regions south of the capital have a mixed Sunni-Shiite
population and are frequently the scene of bloody attacks.
In Baghdad itself, two explosions killed a policeman and wounded seven
others.
Police in Baquba, capital of the province of Diyala, reported finding the
bound corpses of three policemen kidnapped on their way back from a
training course in Jordan.
Thirteen other people were killed in a series of other incidents across the
mixed Sunni-Shiite province that has been second-only to the capital in the
ferocity of the sectarian conflict.
Byline:
Date: 16 October 2006
KIRKUK, Iraq, Oct 16, 2006 (AFP) - Masked nationalist insurgents in Iraq
told AFP they have begun talks with US forces, after a weekend meeting of
Sunni tribal sheikhs called for the restoration of ousted leader Saddam
Hussein.
In the northern oil city of Kirkuk, an Iraqi calling himself Abdel Rahman
Abu Khula said his movement, a group of former Baath party officials and
army officers known as the Islamic Army, would not meet the Iraqi
government.
"In reality, we only negotiate with the ruling power in Iraq and that is
the occupier," he said. "Today it is us and the Americans who are
controlling the situation in Iraq."
A US military spokesman had no immediate comment on the claim, which AFP
cannot independently verify.
Abu Khula said his group represents some 17 nationalist insurgent
organizations, and is seeking the withdrawal of US forces and the release
of detainees from US and Iraqi government prisons.
"The Americans have now decided to talk with us due to the escalation of
our heroic deeds and the development of our explosives technology for use
against their vehicles and bases," he claimed.
There have been repeated rumours about contacts between the Iraqi
government or US forces and the more nationalist elements of the
insurgency, but no US official has ever confirmed talks with armed
Baathists.
Abu Khula was at pains to distance his group, which is made up of largely
secular former regime elements, from Islamist insurgent outfits such as
Al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sunna, which are known for attacks targeting
civilians.
"The brothers in Al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sunna use explosions as part of
their strategies," he said, claiming that Baathists and Saddamists are
often wrongfully blamed for these atrocities.
"We do not target Iraqis, even their animals. We only target those with
links to the foreigners and against Iraqis. We chop off their heads."
The leaders of many of the Sunni Arab tribes which met on Sunday also
criticized Al-Qaeda and other religious groups for provoking divisions in
the resistance and attacking members of their tribes.
In the past three years of insurgency against US-led forces, rifts have
often appeared between elements of the resistance made up of the regime's
former security apparatus and religiously-minded groups linked to Al-Qaeda.
The latest statements came in the wake of a coordinated bombing campaign
targeting civilians in Kirkuk on Sunday, with suicide car bombs in a market
and in front of a women's teaching college.
These disputes have occasionally broken out into open conflict between the
two arms of the insurgency -- something US military commanders are
privately encouraged by.
In the western province of Al-Anbar, the hostility to Al-Qaeda linked
groups erupted into a full scale tribal onslaught called the Anbar
Awakening, which was hailed by the government.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a speech that another such
tribal alliance could be expected imminently in another province.
The meeting of 500 tribal chiefs and representatives featured self-declared
former Baath leaders who were less concerned with fighting Al-Qaeda than
restoring their deposed president.
"This gathering is to unify the Arab tribes in the face of the occupation
and its agents and to struggle against those who would divide the Iraqi
people," said Abu Bassem, who said he was a Baath leader.
Supporters waved portraits of Saddam and called for his release, calling
him the "legitimate" president.
Saddam himself appealed for the insurgency to be "just and fair" to the
Iraqi people, in a note delivered by his lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi revealed
on Monday.
"Resistance against the invaders is a right and a duty," he wrote. "Do not
forget that your goal is to liberate your country from the invaders and
their followers and is not a settling of accounts outside this goal."
Violence continued across the rest of the country which for the last three
weeks of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan has been gripped by a surge in
fighting.
A car bomb exploded outside an Iraqi bank in Suweira south of Baghdad,
killing 10 people and wounding 15, said local police Major Mohammed Hassan.
The agricultural regions south of the capital have a mixed Sunni-Shiite
population and are frequently the scene of bloody attacks.
In Baghdad itself, two explosions killed a policeman and wounded seven
others.
Police in Baquba, capital of the province of Diyala, reported finding the
bound corpses of three policemen kidnapped on their way back from a
training course in Jordan.
Thirteen other people were killed in a series of other incidents across the
mixed Sunni-Shiite province that has been second-only to the capital in the
ferocity of the sectarian conflict.