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Anti-Occupation Statement Helps Clarify Flawed Analysis of Iraqi Resistance
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Kristina M. Gronquist, W A M M
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U.S. leaders consistently mischaracterize all aspects of their war on Iraq. For example, the reason they waged the war, how Iraqis would respond to the invasion, and how long the war would last. As their depressing campaign continues, so does the deception, echoed by a compliant press. They are also deceiving us about the complexity of the Iraqi resistance.
In describing the Iraqi resistance, Pentagon planners and army officials put forward a scenario that is easy to explain to the American people, and one that assumes the easiest victory “with the army they have.” Government and media reports have informed us that the resistance is dominated by a hierarchical command and control center led by primarily an al Qaeda associate, al Zarqawi, whose fighters are allied with Saddamist exiles. Although this contingent does exist, the idea that it provides the foundation upon which the resistance is built is profoundly inaccurate.
In fact, the CIA disputes this simplistic portrait of the Iraqi resistance. According to a February 2005 CIA report, the Zarqawi faction and his Saddamist allies were “lesser elements” in the resistance, which was increasingly dominated by “newly radicalized Sunni Iraqis, nationalists offended by the occupying force, and others disenchanted by the economic turmoil and destruction caused by the fighting.” On April 9, the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, up to 300,000 disenchanted citizens demonstrated peacefully in Baghdad against the presence of U.S. troops, and large demonstrations were also held in Ramadi and Najaf. The demonstrators demanded a swift trial of Saddam Hussein, a timetable for U.S. withdrawal, the release of Iraqis detained by the U.S., an end torture in Iraqi prisons and an end to the marginalization of the opposition.
The non-violent April 9 protest represents an important but neglected component of the Iraqi resistance movement. The peaceful march stands in stark contrast to the spectacular and deadly attacks like suicide bombings and kidnappings, which are thought to be the work of Zarqawi. Bombings by foreign elements in Iraq show utter disregard for civilian casualties, like U.S. bombings, and have been widely condemned by many Iraqi resistance groups.
Last June, after a wave of attacks that killed more than 100 Iraqis, a Sunni cleric with a wide following, Ahmed Abdul Ghafour Samarrae, railed, “Which religion allows anyone to kill more than 100 Iraqis, destroy 100 families and destroy 100 houses? It is a conspiracy to defame the reputation of the Iraq resistance by wearing its dress and using its name falsely. These people hurt the Iraqis and Iraq, giving the occupier an excuse to stay longer.” A Shiite cleric in Sadr City also vehemently disowned the attack in his sermon there. Aws Khafaja said, “We condemn and denounce yesterday’s bombings and attacks on police centers and innocent Iraqis, which claimed about 100 lives. These are attacks launched by suspects and lunatics who are bent on destabilizing the country and ruining the peace so that the Iraqi people will remain in need of American protection.” Of course, it was the U.S. invasion itself that allowed an opening for extremists like Zarqawi to enter Iraq in the first place.
Western media not only paints an incorrect picture of the Iraqi resistance as being solely controlled by Zarqawi, they also continually report that the cause of the “insurgency” is to disrupt Iraq’s alleged advance—under occupation and martial law—toward democracy. Truth really is the first casualty of war. Most U.S. journalists have caved in to a repressive climate of hyper-patriotism, and as a result there is no initiative on the part of Western media to present American citizens with any genuine information about the people who resist the presence of foreign troops and what they want.
Providing information about the political goals of the Iraqi resistance does not translate to supporting their methods, which involve both armed and non-violent action. But, like all truthful information, it helps U.S. citizens understand the complexities of our nation’s involvement in Iraq. The following statement was published March 5th on Juan Cole’s well-respected website, “Informed Comment,” and it is reprinted just as it appeared there.
STATEMENT OF THE ANTI-OCCUPATION PATRIOTIC FORCES
In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate
The anti-occupation Iraqi patriotic forces met in Um al-Qura Mosque on February 15, 2005 to discuss the present situation and its implications on all levels. The participants discussed proposals aiming at restoring Iraq’s full independence, unity and sovereignty. The participant forces proclaim that they deal with the national reconciliation, which they were the first to call for since the beginning of the occupation, and with the writing of the constitution, on the basis of what follows:
1) A clear, precise, public, and binding under international guarantees, timetable for the withdrawal of the occupation troops from Iraq in all their aspects and forms.
2) Abolition of the principle of repartition according to sectarian, racial or ethnic lines, and adoption of the principle of citizenship and equality in rights and duties in front of the law.
3) Acknowledgement of the principle of the right of the Iraqi people to reject occupation; recognition of the Iraqi resistance and its legitimate right to defend its country and its resources; rejection of terrorism which takes aim at innocent Iraqis, facilities and institutions of public utility, and places of worship—mosques, husseiniyyat (Shia religious centers), churches and all holy places.
4) Since the elections that took place lacked legitimacy due to the fact that they were based on the Administrative Law (the Bremer-designed TAL, contested by Sistani himself), lacked legal and security conditions, were boycotted by a large number of people and rigged, the administration that will result from these elections does not have the right to conclude any agreement or treaty infringing on Iraq’s sovereignty, the unity of its people, its land and its economy, and the preservation of its riches.
5) Adoption of democracy and election as the only option for the transfer of power, and the preparation of conditions and laws allowing the political process to take place in honest and transparent conditions, under neutral international supervision.
6) Affirmation of the patriotic, Arab and Islamic identity of Iraq, and firm opposition to all positions that might lead to the loss of this identity.
7) Liberation of all prisoners and detainees in the jails of the occupation and the provisional government, in particular the women; cessation of the continuous search operations and violation of human rights in all Iraqi provinces; demanding the reconstruction of destroyed cities and payment of just and fair reparations to their inhabitants.
The participant forces call on the other patriotic forces that agree with them on these principles to sign this statement as a service to our patriotic cause and for the sake of regrouping all Iraqi patriotic forces and unifying their position.
—The Anti-Occupation Patriotic Forces, 15 February 2005
Signatories: 1-al-Sadr’s Current; 2-The al-Khalesiyya (Shia) School; 3-Association of Muslim Scholars; 4-Patriotic Front for the Liberation of Iraq (umbrella organization of several groups, predominantly Arab nationalists, including former Baathists); 5-Iraqi Patriotic Founding Congress; 6-Popular Council for Culture and Arts; 7-Nasserite Vanguard Party; 8-Council of Woman’s Will; 9-People’s Unity Party (Communist); 10-Movement of the Arab Nationalist Current; 11-Party of Reform, Justice and Democracy;12-United Iraq Party; 13-Islamic Bloc; 14-Nationalist Democratic Party; 15-United Patriotic Movement; 16-Regroupment for Iraq; 17-Progressive Union of Iraqi Students; 18-Arab Regroupment in Kirkuk; 19-Popular Nationalist Party; 20-Arab Socialist Movement (Patriotic Command); 21-Union of Republic’s Women; + seven individual personalities. |
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© 2005 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete May 2005 Index - click here
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