Brett Daniel Shehadey
Special Contributor for In Homeland Security
In the Anbar Province of Iraq, the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi briefly fell to chaos on Thursday with partial control gained by al Qaeda. They began destroying police stations, freeing detainees, holding mosques and military posts and waving their flag proudly in the streets seeking a hybrid jihadist revolution there. The Iraqi national government sent in troops.
A good number of Sunni extremists are fighting for a unification of Syria and Iraq under fundamentalist Sunni theocracy- calling themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The Province is critical access point to the Syrian civil war; as it borders Eastern Syria and funnels in jihadists from Iraq in an attempt to ultimately form a state that does not recognize current boundaries, regimes or systems of governance.
Fallujah resurgence of violent Sunni extremism recalls the mutilations of US contractors and the US retreat in Operation Vigilant Resolve; and finally the hard fought victory in Operation Phantom Fury- some of the bloodies fighting at the street levels by American and enemy forces since Vietnam.
The delivery of F-16 fighter jets, drones and hellfire missiles or other American weapons might stall any final resolve but the reality is more complex than simply empowering the Iraqi government. There is a nefarious and insidious al Qaeda that is inciting the sectarian divide and a also a Shiite dominated regime involved in massive crackdowns that are often a highly visible over-use of force.
Neither side trusts each other- the Sunnis were a privileged Saddam Hussein tier of society and abused the Shiites through the past security forces under that brutal dictator. Now in control for the last decade, the Shiites vow never to let the other side abuse them again. Retaliation, fear and persecution is hot on all sides. Each abuse by the regime is further fuel to an already unstable distrust; and even by coasting at neutral with a small tactical signature, the Iraqi regime faces an uncontained civil war in Syria, cross-border extremist migration and the strategic, well-placed operations of incitement by Sunni jihadists led or likeminded al Qaeda fighters.
Just Tuesday, Nouri al-Maliki’s government removed its forces from Anbar province, permitting the tribal Sunni leaders greater local control. Yet Wednesday, the national forces, predominantly Shiite, moved out, and al Qaeda moved in with a sizeable fighting force. Iraqi Defense Minister Mohammed al-Askari stated that a year-long Sunni sit in or protest camp in Ramadi was ended by local Sunni clerics. After an exchange of fire when police moved in to clear the streets, some 40 members of parliament offered their resignation. As in Egypt, politics are so divided that one party completely yields office or chooses to not participate while the other faction takes complete control. There is no power-sharing arrangement that can be conceptualized natively.
Tribal leaders protesting strict anti-terrorism measures or fighting the government in the region soon switch sides again when al Qaeda fighters emerged and sought havoc in the streets there and other parts. To the tribal leaders, the government can often be the lesser of two evils but persecutory or neglectful actions taken by a dominant Shiite led regime runs deep and continues to be manipulated by al Qaeda aligned militants.
From this years end, 2013, Iraq continues to disintegrate with the highest civilian deaths and attacks in years, at 7,818 by a UN count.
Al Qaeda’s main objective and groups like it, are to secure West and South Iraq and retire national Shiite military forces there. To this end, the chief suspects are the most powerful Sunni states in the region; specifically, Saudi Arabia that remain the instigators of Sunni jihad through the region, aside from any direct links to al Qaeda, which holds a similar non-Arab nationalist objective.
“Go to jihad,” can be heard from the city streets.