The Rebirth Of Al Qaeda In Iraq Interview W/Jessica Lewis Of ISW
Al Qaeda in Iraq has gone through a resurgence this year. It wasn’t long ago that the group was on the decline with much of its leadership arrested or killed, and many of its cells broken up. Now it is responsible for more and more mass casualty bombings, it has re-established its presence in the provinces, and is operating in Syria that has allowed it access to new funds, personnel, and material. To help explain the rebirth of Al Qaeda in Iraq is Jessica Lewis the research director at the Institute for the Study of War and author of several recent reports on the Islamist group.
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Resurgence Of Iraq’s Insurgency In Ninewa Province
Iraq’s Ninewa province and its capital city of Mosul have returned as a central hub for the country’s insurgency. After the Surge in 2007 many militant groups fled north to places like Mosul where they were then reduced by American and Iraqi forces. Now insurgents are making a comeback. They are attempting to assert their will over the governorate’s population and economy, and targeting the local security forces.
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Security Situation In Iraq’s Ninewa Province
For many years Iraq Body Count called Iraq’s Ninewa province the deadliest per capita in the country. That was because the governorate capital of Mosul was the main urban base for the insurgency. Militants were able to play upon the internal divisions in the province between Arabs and Kurds, and Sunni displeasure with the central government to build up support. From 2009-2010 violence dropped in Ninewa as people decided to try their hands at politics. Many now consider that a wasted effort. Today the insurgency has made a comeback in the province. The result is that Ninewa is once again one of the most dangerous places in Iraq.
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Explaining Iraqi Kurdistan’s Policy Towards Syria Interview w/Wladimir van Wilgenburg
The conflict in neighboring Syria has provided both opportunities and problems for Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Kurdish President Massoud Barzani and to a lesser extent the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have attempted to forge ties with Syrian Kurds and shape events there to their benefit. These have only met with limited success as the Syrians have their own agendas. To help explain this policy is Wladimir van Wilgenburg who until recently was based in Irbil, and is an analyst for the Jamestown Foundation out of Washington DC, and writes for Al Monitor.
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Over 8,000 Killed In Iraq So Far In 2013
Iraq went through another brutal month in November 2013. Three of the four organizations that track deaths saw a slight decline from last month, but the figures were still high overall. Two of the groups have now surpassed 8,000 fatalities for the year. Most of the violence is due to Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and its Soldiers’ Harvest campaign, but other militants are active as well contributing to the high number of killed. There are also increasing fears of retaliatory attacks by Shiites against Sunnis. That does not mean that Iraq is facing another civil war, but the insurgency has been re-born, and the current level of violence is likely to be the new norm.
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Sunni Identity Politics In Iraq After 2003
The Iraq War created a new set of sectarian politics in the country. The transformation amongst Sunnis was a perfect example. Before they did not have a real sense of themselves as a group, but after 2003 they felt threatened by the Shiite parties that they conflated with Iran, and that helped create a new communal identity. Two authors Fanar Haddad and Harith Hassan al-Qarawee have tried to explain these transformations. Their ideas along with statements by sheikhs, religious men, and soldiers from Anbar show how sectarianism did not emerge from centuries long conflict, but was rather created by the social and political situation in Iraq after the invasion.
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Insurgents Undermine Another Institution In Ninewa Province
Iraq’s Ninewa, and specifically the provincial capital Mosul has once again become a hotbed for insurgent activity. Many different militant groups operate there including Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Baathist Jaish Rijal al-Tariqa al-Naqshibandi, and Ansar al-Sunna. One major target of these groups has been public employees. Recently 200 guards from the Badush prison quit after a concerted campaign to threaten and intimidate them. That followed the assassination of several district mayors in Mosul that shut down their local councils. This was just the latest attempt to undermine the administration in the governorate.
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Reconciliation Between Anbar And Central Government Take One Step Forward Two Back
Since October 2013, the Mutahidun party that runs Anbar has tried to negotiate with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to put an end to the protests in the province. There have been several meetings between officials in Baghdad and Anbar over the last several weeks to try to work out some concessions between the two that might appease the demonstrators. Both sides are worried about the increasing terrorist threat in Anbar, and Mutahidun would also like to focus upon governance that would require the cooperation of Baghdad. As those steps were being taken however, the protesters said they were no longer interested in the talks. That leaves the future of this effort up in the air.
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Security Situation In Southern Iraq November 2013
November 2013 saw southern Iraq return to its annual average in terms of attacks and casualties. There were two waves of car bombings during the month, but otherwise violence was scattered and low level across the region. That was different from the previous two months that saw a huge amount of fatalities. Compared to the rest of Iraq the south remains relatively peaceful despite the best laid plans of insurgents.
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US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE VIDEO: The Resurgence Of Al-Qaeda In Iraq
Attacks On Iraqi Forces And Infrastructure Dominate Anbar Violence November 2013
The number of attacks remained high in Iraq’s Anbar for November 2013. As usual most of those were concentrated in the province’s cities especially Fallujah and Ramadi. Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), the power system and transportation were the main targets. Despite that the number of fatalities was dramatically lower than the previous two months.
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Low Level Attacks Characterize Violence In Iraq’s Ninewa November 2013
According to the United Nations Iraq’s Ninewa has been the second deadliest province for most of 2013. That’s because the governorate capital Mosul is the major urban base for the insurgency. Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Baathist Naqshibandi and others have been able to assert control over wide swaths of the city and surrounding area. Unlike places like Baghdad where mass casualty bombings are the norm, in Ninewa violence consists mostly of low-level shootings and roadside bombs but with no less deadly results.
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Understanding Anbar Before & After the Awakening Pt. VIII Sheikh Majid al-Sulaiman
Sheikh Majid Abdul al-Razzaq Ali al-Sulaiman is one of the two elder sheikhs of the Dulaim tribe, one of the largest in Anbar province. He is the uncle of Sheikh Ali Hatem Sulaiman, and both were leaders in the Awakening movement. The elder Sulaiman has an interesting story because he fled to Jordan in the 1990s after he took part in a failed coup against Saddam Hussein and become involved in opposition politics. After 2003 he quickly became disillusioned with the American occupation and retreated to Anbar. There he became a target of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and that was what led Sulaiman to join the Awakening. That movement quickly became divided by personal rivalries and broke up into different factions. Sheikh Sulaiman’s story therefore covers the gamut of changes that took place in Anbar both before and after the 2003 invasion.
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Iraqi Women Before And After The 2003 Invasion Interview W/Prof Nadje Al-Ali
Professor Nadje Al-Ali is a professor of gender studies at SOAS, University of London. She has authored several books and articles on the history and present state of Iraqi women including Iraqi Women: Untold Stories From 1948 to the Present and What Kind of Liberation?: Women and the Occupation of Iraq, and was one of the editors of We Are Iraqis: Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War. The Iraq War has given rise to a number of contradictory stories about women in Iraq. One is that Iraqi women were liberated and on the rise under Saddam, and then all that was reversed after the 2003 invasion as religious parties gained control and attempted to impose their views upon society. An opposing view was that Iraq was a typical Arab Muslim country where women had a secondary role, but then the Americans freed them from these restrictions. To try to provide a clearer picture of what women have gone through both before and after the fall of Saddam Hussein is an interview with Prof. Al-Ali.
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Al Qaeda In Iraq’s Excesses That Could Eventually Cost It
Dr. Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Studies recently testified to a joint committee of the United States House of Representatives that Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) couldn’t help but overstep itself. During the early part of the Iraq War the Islamist organization tried to impose its foreign version of Islam upon Iraq, and intimidated and executed those that disagreed with it. It was actions such as those that eventually turned many Iraqis against it. Today, AQI is making a comeback establishing bases again within the country and carrying out a dizzying array of bombings. As the group looks to gain territory once again it is returning to its bad habits, which will eventually cost it sometime down the road.
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Who can bring unity to Iraq in 2014? An interview with Joel Wing
Here's an interview I did with Global Politics about Iraq in 2014.
Crackdown On Protest Site In Iraq’s Anbar Province Seemingly Averted
After several attempts at reconciliation between Anbar’s provincial government and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to end the on-going protests there events turned for the worse in December 2013. The premier claimed that the demonstration sites were a base for Al Qaeda and demanded that they be ended, and hinted at a crackdown. Just before that Sheikh Hamid al-Hayes accused the death of his nephew upon the Ramadi protests as well, and threatened to use violence unless the perpetrators were turned over to him. It seemed like either the government or Hayes’ tribe was about to storm the Ramadi protest camp, but then things suddenly calmed down. Stepping back from the brink was best for all concerned, but it was another sign of the decline of the protest movement.
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Iraq’s PM Maliki Goes From Offensive Against Al Qaeda To Crackdown On Anbar Protestor
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki just turned a military tragedy, which rallied much of the country behind the government, into a campaign against the Anbar protest movement. In the middle of December 2013 Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) set up an elaborate trap, which resulted in the death of much of the leadership of the Army’s 7th Division. Baghdad then launched a massive military campaign in Anbar that almost all parties and much of the public supported. In the midst of this offensive however, the prime minister decided to go after the Anbar demonstrators by claiming that they were behind the terrorists, and then ordered the detention of Parliamentarian Ahmed Alwani of the Iraqi Islamic Party who was one of their leaders. The lawmaker was captured, but not before a shoot out that resulted in several deaths and brought out hundreds of people into the streets in Anbar in support of him. Now the government is demanding that the protest sites close. In doing so, Maliki turned a national moment into a personal vendetta against his opponents.
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