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American occupation and the rise of Al-Qaeda

Atul Aneja

Two-and-a half years of U.S. rule has converted Iraq into an Al-Qaeda hub, which has now begun to radiate violence and extremism in the region.

BY ALL accounts, American forces battling a determined uprising have been bogged down in Iraq. After a brief lull, violence in and around Iraq has surged dramatically. A day after American forces called off their assault on Husaybiah, a town along the Iraq-Syria border they said was an Al-Qaeda stronghold, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in Baghdad. At least 30 persons were killed and 19 wounded in the strike on Thursday. Iraqi police forces have been known to frequent the restaurant.

Witnesses said the explosion in the city centre was so powerful it could be heard several kilometres away. The attack came after the Iraqi wing of Al-Qaeda claimed in an online statement that it would avenge the attack by the United States on Husaybiah. For five days an estimated 30,000 Iraqi and U.S. troops backed by aerial support had pounded the town. The U.S. claimed Husaybiah was the nerve centre for smuggling in weapons and Islamist militants across the border from Syria.

And, for the first time since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a spate of bombings has rocked Jordan's capital Amman. Serial blasts shook three American-owned hotels, causing massive casualties. It is estimated that 57 people have been killed in the near-simultaneous explosions at the Grand Hyatt, Radisson, and Days Inn hotels. Nearly 300 people, mostly Jordanians, were injured.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordan-born Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility for the attack. "A group of our best lions launched a new attack on some dens ... After casing the targets, some hotels were chosen which the Jordanian despot turned into a backyard for the enemies of the faith, the Jews and Crusaders," the statement, on a website usually used by the group, said.

"Let the tyrant of Amman know that his protection ... for the Jews has become a target for the Mujahideen and their attacks, and let him expect the worst," it added. This is not the first time the group has launched an attack in Jordan. In August, three rockets were fired at U.S. navy ships in the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

The targeting of Jordan has not come as a surprise. Amman has been the chief U.S. ally in the region in its occupation of Iraq. U.S. personnel including private "security contractors" transit through Amman in order to travel to Iraq. The United Nations also has a strong presence in Amman ever since Al-Qaeda demolished its Canal hotel headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003. Apart from providing logistical support, Jordan has been known to provide the occupation forces with intelligence. Britain has been training Jordanian Special Forces since 1997.

Islamist extremists resent Jordan for yet another reason. Along with Egypt, Jordan is the only other Arab nation that has signed a peace treaty with neighbouring Israel. Its security situation becomes all the more wobbly as a majority of its population is of Palestinian origin. The outskirts of Amman are dotted with a string of refugee camps where Palestinians displaced during the previous Arab-Israeli wars reside. Israeli high-handedness against the Palestinians therefore raises domestic tensions inside Jordan.

The two-and-a half years of U.S. presence has converted Iraq into an Al-Qaeda hub, which has now begun to radiate violence and extremism in the region. It is estimated that nearly 80 per cent of Al-Qaeda's organisation was destroyed during the U.S. attack on Afghanistan following the destruction of the World Trade Centre in September 2001.

However, the indiscriminate bombings in Fallujah last year, the Abu Ghraib prisoners' abuse scandal, and the obvious pro-Israeli bias in the way Washington tackles the Israel-Palestine question have led to the infusion, and then consolidation, of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

There is now a consensus among Arab, European, and American intelligence agencies that Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the centre for training a second generation of jihadis. It is argued that the largest concentration of Al-Qaeda operatives is no longer in Pakistan, Yemen or Saudi Arabia, but in Iraq.

Fawaz A. Gerges, author of The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global points out that "America's imperial endeavour [in Iraq] has given them [Al Qaeda] a new opening to make inroads, if not into mainstream Arab hearts and minds, into a large pool of outraged Muslims from Middle East and elsewhere, including uprooted, young, European-born Muslims, who want to resist what they perceive as the U.S.-British onslaught on their coreligionists."

With its base in Iraq, Al Zarqawi's group appears to be pursuing two core objectives. First, it wishes to send back jihadis trained in Iraq to their home bases in West Asia and Europe. Secondly, it seeks to overthrow Arab governments as a step towards establishing the Caliphate — a goal Osama bin Laden has also espoused.

Estimates of Al-Qaeda's numerical strength in Iraq have varied, with the Americans estimating that there are 1,000 Arab fighters under Al Zarqawi's command. A biographer of the Jordanian has, however, claimed the group has 5,000 full-time fighters, backed by 20,000 local supporters. Despite these numbers, it is estimated that the Iraqi resistance in nearly 90 per cent indigenous.

Sunni-Shia tensions

The open U.S. support for the Shias following the occupation has led to simmering tensions between Sunnis and Shias, which have had an impact beyond Iraq's borders. Sunnis, who have been leading the resistance, fear the new constitution of Iraq, scripted by the Americans, aims to deny them access to the country's oil. Most of the oil lies in Shia-dominated southern Iraq and the Kurdish north. Both the Shias and the Kurds have made it clear that they intend to carve out autonomous zones in their areas. Iraqi Sunnis have interpreted the move as a means to dispossess them of the country's wealth.

The fault lines between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq can get exacerbated as both the communities now have well-established militias. The Shias, for instance, have the Badr corps — an armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which was once headquartered in Iran. Besides, Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has his Mehdi army, which has revolted twice against the U.S. occupation. The Mehdi army has emerged as a powerful force that controls the streets in many Shia centres and helps provide de facto local level administration

In addition, there have been reports that the U.S. military has cultivated some armed groups directly. These include the Iraqi Freedom Guard, which has recruited a large number of Shias from the south. They have been deployed against Sunnis in Anbar province, the hub of the resistance to the U.S. occupation.

The Americans have also had dealings with the Peshmerga — a Kurdish force that has its strongholds in northern Iraq. The Peshmerga's close association with the Americans has already pitted it against the Sunnis. Kurdish-Sunni relations were greatly damaged earlier when Peshemrga fighters fought alongside U.S. troops in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah last year.

Shia militias now control the strategic southern Iraqi city of Basra, which is close to Iraq's southern oil fields.

Sunni apprehensions, about their political and economic marginalisation in Iraq, have already found support in Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. In the region, Shia domination in Iraq is seen as shadow of Iran's growing influence. These fears have grown after Iran announced its intent to build an oil pipeline from Basra to its oil city of Abadan. It is also considering establishing a rail link from Basra to Khorramshahr, a port 10 kilometres north of Abadan. Besides, Iran's newly elected President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has said Iraqis could use Iranian ports for trade.

The growing sectarianism in the region has already damaged relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has blamed U.S. policy for deepening sectarian tensions in Iraq, and for effectively handing over the country to Iran. Jordan's King Abdullah II has gone public in airing his fears about the rise of a Shia crescent in the region.

Many analysts are of the view that the growing sectarian divide in Iraq will have a ripple effect in Bahrain, which has a dominant Shia population, but is ruled by a Sunni monarchy, as well as the oil-rich eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia, which have a significant Shia presence. Lebanon is also likely to be vulnerable as the pro-Syria and pro-Iran Hezbollah militia exercises substantial influence there.

There is no denying the West Asia, following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, is undergoing a major transformation. But far from becoming stable, democratic, and liberal, the region appears to be sliding into anarchy.

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