By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - With the downing of a US Chinook helicopter in Iraq on Sunday claiming the lives of at least 16 soldiers, and Iran handing over to the United Nations a list with the names of scores of foreign jihadis in its custody, there is renewed focus on the nature of the resistance movement in Iraq.
The attack on the helicopter - the second-deadliest for the US since its March invasion - was launched just south of Falluja, a center of heightened Sunni resistance to the US-led occupation of Iraq. The deadliest day for American troops in Iraq was March 23 when 28 died in numerous attacks as US forces advanced toward Baghdad.
Iran, meanwhile, last week finally revealed to the UN Security Council the names of suspected al-Qaeda members in its custody - many believed to have been caught while trying to make their way to join the resistance in Iraq. The official IRNA news agency said that a report to the council identified 78 suspected members of the militant network who Iran says have already been extradited to their countries of origin.
The Iranian mission in New York also provided the names of 147 suspected members of al-Qaeda - or its former Afghan hosts, the Taliban - who remain in custody in Iran pending trial, extradition or deportation, the news agency said.
IRNA's dispatch did not reveal the names of the detainees or any other details. However, on Sunday the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published the names of some of the 147 suspects. The Saudi-owned newspaper did not say how it had obtained the list, but the article was datelined New York.
The names included 29 Saudis, 12 Jordanians, 13 Yemenis, six Moroccans, six Tunisians, one Syrian, seven Somalis, 35 Pakistanis and 24 others whose nationalities could not be established. Three Afghans and three Lebanese were also identified.
Iranian officials have also acknowledged that they have detained a number of top figures from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, but have refused to give any hints as to their identities, despite repeated calls from the US to hand them over.
The Washington Post reported October 14 that the eldest son of bin Laden, Saad, had risen to the top ranks of al-Qaeda and was helping run the terror network from inside Iran. The paper, which quoted US, European and Arab officials, said that Saad was being protected by an elite unit linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic republic's ideological army. Iran dismissed the allegation as an "absolute lie".
As resistance in Iraq intensifies, more than 30 attacks are recorded every day, there has been much speculation on the role of foreign jihadis. The New York Times reported on October 28, "Bush administration officials have estimated that the number of foreign fighters in Iraq is between 1,000 and 3,000, but civilian and military officials here [in Baghdad] say they doubt there are anywhere near that number." A more realistic number is probably about 250.
European intelligence sources have confirmed to Asia Times Online that well before and during the US invasion on Iraq, Arabs, Afghans, Pakistanis and other nationals had tried to reach Iraq, but that most were netted in Iran and thrown into custody.
US President George W Bush has repeatedly blamed the surge in guerrilla attacks as a "desperate" reaction to the successes achieved by the US and other coalition forces in their first months of rebuilding Iraq. Yet the guerrillas appear to be stepping up their attacks - being called by some the "Ramadan Offensive" because of the four apparently coordinated suicide bombings in Baghdad that killed at least 36 people last Monday, the first day of the Muslim holy month.
Yet US authorities still tend to place the blame on al-Qaeda operators or the Ansar al-Islam, a northern terrorist network. This has been to play down the indigenous resistance movement in Iraq.
This correspondent visited northern Iraq in July and August this year, and investigations suggest that most of the foreign fighters who made it to Iraq did so via Jordan and Syria. This was a result of the financial support that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein used to give to Syrian-based Palestinian groups. Many of the foreign fighters arrived in the country ahead of the US invasion troops, and lay low until the guerrilla phase of the war began. Most were identified with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Al-Qaeda fighters, on the other hand, could enter Iraq via bordering Saudi Arabia or Iran. The Saudi route, though, involves an inhospitable desert crossing, and evading vigilant Saudi officials. A more natural route for al-Qaeda fighters, many of whom had fled Afghanistan for the sanctuary of Pakistan border areas or Central Asian states, was via northern Iran. However, the Iranian border areas are well monitored by the intelligence networks of the Kurdish security forces, and crossing is difficult - as evidenced by the numbers caught.
Thus, to date, and unlike Afghanistan, global jihadis have been unable to establish settled and safe travel routes into Iraq, and within the country foreign fighters, again unlike Afghanistan, appear not to have established defined pockets of resistance.
According to a report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, retired US Army Colonel Kenneth Allard, who served in Europe in military intelligence, says that the various leaders of the Iraqi guerrilla forces might be relegating the use of explosives and other crude weapons to the foreign fighters. He says that the Iraqi commanders might prefer to give the foreign fighters the responsibility for conducting suicide bombings because they came to Iraq perhaps for religious and ideological reasons.
"This is probably an effective division of labor," Allard said. "I mean, the Iraqis show every sign of wanting to go on and live another day." He said that he believes the foreign fighters are "only too glad" to be used as suicide attackers on the behalf of the Ba'athists.
Intelligence sources tell Asia Times Online that Iraq's northern Kurdish region could see an escalation of guerrilla activity soon, instigated by the Ansar al-Islam. They say that many Ansar al-Islam members are lying low in the Iranian Kurdish region, have set up safe routes for crossing the border, and are waiting for the right moment to move on the towns of Kirkuk and Mosul to join the resistance.
Despite this though, it is clear that the resistance movement draws it strength from the grassroots, especially tribal areas such as Falluja, Ramadi and Khalidiya, from where the main human resources come, funded by the treasury of the former regime, and armed by its extensive arsenal.
Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EK04Ak02.html
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