Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Financial Times
April 19, 2008 By Jack Fairweather
After rising to the leadership of the Sahwa (Awakening) movement that has helped to pacify Sunni areas of Iraq, Sheikh Ahmed Abu Rishe now wants to move into national politics.
A tribal leader in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, he has been working to transform a loose movement into a political party capable of securing gains in provincial elections later this year.
"The government of Iraq must represent the interests of the people, and the Sunni must be better represented at the heart of government," says Mr Abu Rishe, sitting in full tribal dress at his political headquarters.
Over the past eight months, he says he has opened 230 offices nationwide, with 400,000 registered members. But as his political grouping grows he has met increasing resistance from members of Iraq's Shia-dominated central government, many of whom fear that his tribal influence and ability to galvanise thousands of fighters could pose a challenge to the political elite.
That Mr Abu Rishe is able to mount a political challenge is testimony to the transformation in places such as Anbar. Eighteen months ago, Ramadi was a war zone: its government had fled, US and Iraqi forces were under daily mortar and grenade attack, and civil society was forced off the streets.
The Sahwa movement began in 2006 as a reaction among tribal leaders to al-Qaeda's excesses and what many saw as an assault on traditional ways of life.
Tribal, family and other networks - which included, in some cases, former "resistance" fighters who once attacked US troops - reorganised themselves into local guard and watch forces with US military assistance.
Desperate to reduce violence, the US was eager to help people shift loyalties - providing money and weapons even to former insurgents suddenly willing to fight al-Qaeda.
"Al-Qaeda and the thugs they hired from the local community brought shame to our families. We had to reclaim our country," says Major General Tariq al-Thiyabi, Ramadi's acting police chief, a founder of the local Sahwa.
Leadership fell to the Abu Rishe tribe, headed at the time by Sheikh Ahmed's younger brother, Abdul Sattar. The family helped to recruit 24,000 Iraqi policemen - 1,300 of them from their tribe.
Under the US military's "Sons of Iraq" programme, a further 5,000 auxiliary fighters were drafted in.
As extremists were rooted out, attacks dropped from an average of 1,000 a month in 2006 to five last month. The drop, which coincided with the US military "surge", also brought an invitation to the White House for the Abu Rishe brothers and other local leaders in September.
Abdul Sattar Abu Rishe, however, was killed a fortnight later by a suicide bomb attack. The insurgent fightback has continued with a series of bombings against the Sahwa this week, killing more than 100 people.
Nor has the Abu Rishe clan's rise to political prominence in Anbar and in other Sunni areas been uncontested. Some resent the fact that he has allegedly received large sums of cash from coalition forces to fund his political activities - a charge denied by the US and Mr Abu Rishe, whose family owns a construction group and apartment block in Dubai.
A far greater challenge for him, however, lies in the sceptical response to his ambitions from central government and the Sunni leadership in parliament.
Mr Abu Rishe says Iraqi police have closed down 30 of his offices in Baghdad and southern Iraq.
"I received a message from the prime minister's office telling me to restrict my activities to Anbar province. I have no intention of doing that," he says.
"I have tried to carry on my brother's dream of creating a national political party. But now we must start delivering for the people."
He also resents the fact that the government has so far agreed to accept only 20 per cent of Sahwa members into the national security forces.
The authorities in Baghdad reject Mr Abu Rishe's claims of discrimination, saying his brand of tribal politics can have only a limited place in national politics.
"Tribes don't make states. They are an important part of the social framework of Iraq, but to build a state you need technocrats and politicians," says Tahseen Sheikhly, who heads the Iraqi government's reconciliation committee, which works with various sectarian groups.
However, some observers believe that the government has taken fright at the growth of the Sunni movement across the country ahead of provincial elections.
"There are parallels to be drawn between the movement of Moqtada al-Sadr [the popular Shia cleric whose group has fought bitter battles with government forces] in the south and the Sahwa," says one US official. "Both represent indigenous groups with high political ambition but little stake in the current political system."
April 19, 2008 By Jack Fairweather
After rising to the leadership of the Sahwa (Awakening) movement that has helped to pacify Sunni areas of Iraq, Sheikh Ahmed Abu Rishe now wants to move into national politics.
A tribal leader in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, he has been working to transform a loose movement into a political party capable of securing gains in provincial elections later this year.
"The government of Iraq must represent the interests of the people, and the Sunni must be better represented at the heart of government," says Mr Abu Rishe, sitting in full tribal dress at his political headquarters.
Over the past eight months, he says he has opened 230 offices nationwide, with 400,000 registered members. But as his political grouping grows he has met increasing resistance from members of Iraq's Shia-dominated central government, many of whom fear that his tribal influence and ability to galvanise thousands of fighters could pose a challenge to the political elite.
That Mr Abu Rishe is able to mount a political challenge is testimony to the transformation in places such as Anbar. Eighteen months ago, Ramadi was a war zone: its government had fled, US and Iraqi forces were under daily mortar and grenade attack, and civil society was forced off the streets.
The Sahwa movement began in 2006 as a reaction among tribal leaders to al-Qaeda's excesses and what many saw as an assault on traditional ways of life.
Tribal, family and other networks - which included, in some cases, former "resistance" fighters who once attacked US troops - reorganised themselves into local guard and watch forces with US military assistance.
Desperate to reduce violence, the US was eager to help people shift loyalties - providing money and weapons even to former insurgents suddenly willing to fight al-Qaeda.
"Al-Qaeda and the thugs they hired from the local community brought shame to our families. We had to reclaim our country," says Major General Tariq al-Thiyabi, Ramadi's acting police chief, a founder of the local Sahwa.
Leadership fell to the Abu Rishe tribe, headed at the time by Sheikh Ahmed's younger brother, Abdul Sattar. The family helped to recruit 24,000 Iraqi policemen - 1,300 of them from their tribe.
Under the US military's "Sons of Iraq" programme, a further 5,000 auxiliary fighters were drafted in.
As extremists were rooted out, attacks dropped from an average of 1,000 a month in 2006 to five last month. The drop, which coincided with the US military "surge", also brought an invitation to the White House for the Abu Rishe brothers and other local leaders in September.
Abdul Sattar Abu Rishe, however, was killed a fortnight later by a suicide bomb attack. The insurgent fightback has continued with a series of bombings against the Sahwa this week, killing more than 100 people.
Nor has the Abu Rishe clan's rise to political prominence in Anbar and in other Sunni areas been uncontested. Some resent the fact that he has allegedly received large sums of cash from coalition forces to fund his political activities - a charge denied by the US and Mr Abu Rishe, whose family owns a construction group and apartment block in Dubai.
A far greater challenge for him, however, lies in the sceptical response to his ambitions from central government and the Sunni leadership in parliament.
Mr Abu Rishe says Iraqi police have closed down 30 of his offices in Baghdad and southern Iraq.
"I received a message from the prime minister's office telling me to restrict my activities to Anbar province. I have no intention of doing that," he says.
"I have tried to carry on my brother's dream of creating a national political party. But now we must start delivering for the people."
He also resents the fact that the government has so far agreed to accept only 20 per cent of Sahwa members into the national security forces.
The authorities in Baghdad reject Mr Abu Rishe's claims of discrimination, saying his brand of tribal politics can have only a limited place in national politics.
"Tribes don't make states. They are an important part of the social framework of Iraq, but to build a state you need technocrats and politicians," says Tahseen Sheikhly, who heads the Iraqi government's reconciliation committee, which works with various sectarian groups.
However, some observers believe that the government has taken fright at the growth of the Sunni movement across the country ahead of provincial elections.
"There are parallels to be drawn between the movement of Moqtada al-Sadr [the popular Shia cleric whose group has fought bitter battles with government forces] in the south and the Sahwa," says one US official. "Both represent indigenous groups with high political ambition but little stake in the current political system."