Splitting the resistance.

When a group of armed men wearing masks appeared on TV threatening Zarqawi, many people considered it a good development. Some thought that “Iraqis are moving”, others thought that GWB plan of “turn them against themselves” was working. “The resistance” was splitting, they thought and considered it a hopeful sign.

I, however, couldn’t share their optimism and I have many reasons to be so skeptic about this group and its likes, but let’s 1st ask ourselves some questions:

Who are those people and why are they hiding their faces?
What exactly they want and why moving now when Zarqawi’s crimes were so obvious for a long time?
Are they really serious in their threats?

Let me start with saying that I totally reject the idea of civilian Iraqis taking arms to fight militias and terrorists, as this will create a great confusion and will lead to the emergence of new militias that we have to deal with in the future starting almost from where we began, only with huge sacrifices. We have stopped trusting people who ware masks a long time ago, as we should! Why would a man hide his face while he’s doing the right thing and in his own homeland?? Are they afraid of Zarqawi? Or are they afraid of the authorities?

We have a long experience with people wearing masks starting with Saddam’s Fedaáeen and I can tell you without much doubt that these people are not who they pretend to be. They are not ordinary Iraqis and most likely they’re either part of Sadr militias or other similar groups.

But why would such groups do this and what would they gain?!
Anyone who follow the Iraqi issue should notice that the term “resistance” is losing its legitimacy and support among Iraqis day by day. Soon after the liberation, some Iraqis looked at the IP and the new Iraqi army as “collaborating with the invaders”. It wasn’t far when members of the new Iraqi army were wearing masks to hide their faces fearing that they maybe recognized and then they would face serious threats, this is not the case anymore.

Iraqis can no longer sympathize in any way with those who kill Iraqi children and destroy Iraqi infra structure and make their lives harder and harder, thus came new terms for old groups such as “real resistance” and “legitimate resistance”. These people are seeking recognition as the real resistance. They’re saying “killing children and destroying infrastructure is Zarqawi’s followers doing while we are real resistance; we only resist the occupation and we'll do it peacfully” It won’t matter what they actually do since we cannot find who committed this terrorist act and who did that. These people can never, and more important, will never fight Zarqawi.

Another goal is to tell the world that the coalition and the Iraqi government have failed to provide security and that they can succeeded where the coalition have. How can we ever accept such a statement!? I don’t want the "security" brought to me by thugs, as this is a pure delusion. It’s like the "security" we had under Saddam’s regime.

Moreover if you examine the speech made by this group you’ll find a serious threat to people who give him shelter. Do you have any idea whom they’re referring to? They mean Arab Sunni in general and people of Ramadi and Fallujah in particular. It’s true that those who shelter Zarqawi are most likely Arab Sunni but we don’t generalize this while they will, as it serves their masters’ agenda. It’s enough to just try and imagine what would it mean if a Sheát group started attacking some Arab Sunnis claiming they’re sheltering Zarqawi to reconsider whether this is as promising as it may seem.

By splitting these groups or accepting this as a fact we are giving one of them the legitimacy they desperately seek. These armed groups are all the same, they all pursue the same goal; preventing democracy in Iraq and we should deal with them as one. Splitting the so called resistance might be a good thing for America if this was a war on Islam or on Iraqis, but we must remember-as we may forget-that this is a war against terrorism and thus must be, among other goals, a war for Iraqis and for Muslims.

By Ali.