"... Al Qaeda is based on Islamic extremism, while the others only focus on the occupiers," said Colonel Jalil Al Dulaimi, who was police chief of the town north of Baghdad until he was killed in a coordinated attack on police headquarters this week. "But from our perspective, anyone who carries weapons is a terrorist. It doesn't matter what faction they are a part of," he added.
The commander of
the US Army's 82nd Airborne, 3rd Brigade, Charlie Company, based in Samarra, agrees that both groups pose a threat to security in the town but says that there are important differences.
The Islamic Army "is against coalition forces and ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] that work with the coalition," says Captain Eugene "Buddy" Ferris. "Al Qaeda will blow up bombs in markets. Al Jaish Al Islami [the Islamic Army] won't," Ferris adds. "If reconciliation is ever going to occur then the Islamic Army is a group you could work with."
Both insurgent groups tag the walls with slogans, threats, and boasts.
Al Qaeda's street artists write: "The Samarra police are infidels, so we will bring you young men who love martyrdom," and "We will destroy all those who cooperate with the Americans."
The Islamic Army scribes write much the same thing, but threaten "the occupiers" instead of the local security forces and collaborators.
Matthew's job is to redirect the artistic impulses of each group against the other. "It's a way to destabilize their unification efforts," says First Lieutenant Charlie Hodges, who leads one of the graffiti patrols.
Abu Tiba, the alleged leader of Al Qaeda in Samarra, is a frequent subject.
Hodges tells Matthew to write something really terrible about Abu Tiba, something that the Islamic Army of Iraq might say about him, something that will start a fight.
Matthew nods. Then in bright red paint he writes "Abu Tiba is a terrorist and those who work with him are terrorists."
It seems somehow less menacing than the crossed out "USA" daubed next to it on the dusty brown wall.
Hodges does not read Arabic, so he asks a reporter traveling with the platoon to translate. Hodges is clearly disappointed. The black propaganda effort needs a lot more street cred than Matthew is giving him.
They climb back into the Humvees, drive around the corner, and try again ...