Awakening
Leader: If there is no change in three months,
there will be war again
Patrick Cockburn
The Independent
Fallujah, 28 January 2008
"If there is no change in three months there will be war again," said Abu Marouf,
the commander of 13,000 fighters who formerly fought the Americans. He and his
men switched sides last year to battle al-Qa'ida and defeated it in its main
stronghold in and around Fallujah.
"If the Americans think they can use us to crush al-Qa'ida and then push us to
one side, they are mistaken," Abu Marouf told The Independent in an interview in
a scantily furnished villa beside an abandoned cemetery near the village of
Khandari outside Fallujah. He said that all he and his tribal following had to
do was stand aside and al-Qa'ida's fighters would automatically come back. If
they did so he might have to ally himself to a resurgent al-Qa'ida in order to
"protect myself and my men".
Abu Marouf said he was confident that his forces controlled a swath of territory
stretching east from Fallujah into Baghdad and includes what Americans called
"the triangle of death" south-west of the capital. Even so his bodyguards, armed
with AK-47 assault rifles, nervously watched the abandoned canals and reed beds
around his temporary headquarters. Others craned over light machine guns in
newly built watch towers. Several anti-Qa'ida tribal leaders have been killed by
suicide bombers in recent weeks.
His threat is highly dangerous for the US and Iraqi government, neither of which
made any headway in ending the Sunni insurgency against the US occupation for
four years until the tribes of Anbar, the province in which Fallujah lies,
turned against al-Qa'ida. They formed the Awakening movement, known in Arabic as
al-Sahwah, of which Abu Marouf, whose full name is Karim Ismail Hassan al-Zubai,
is a leading member.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, warned last week it would be "very
dangerous" if the Awakening movement's 80,000 fighters were not absorbed into
the army and police. "They are not that well organised and could easily be
manipulated by al-Qa'ida," he said.
The Iraqi government fears ceding power to the Awakening movement which it sees
as an American-funded Sunni militia, whose leaders are often former military or
security officers from Saddam Hussein's regime and are unlikely to show
long-term loyalty to the Shia and Kurdish-dominated administration.
Abu Marouf – a thin man aged about 40, with a short beard and wearing a brown
suit and lilac tie – says he was "security officer" before the US invasion of
2003. Afterwards he became a resistance fighter and, though he will not say
which guerrilla group he belonged to, local sources say he was a commander of
the 1920 Revolution Brigades. He is also a member of the powerful Zubai tribe
that was at the heart of anti-American resistance in an area which saw the
fiercest fighting during the Sunni rebellion against the occupation.
He has a precise memory for dates and figures. He says that he started secretly
working against al-Qa'ida at a meeting as long ago as 14 April 2005. He and his
men gathered intelligence. Eight months later they started making attacks on al-Qa'ida,
which was trying to monopolise power in Sunni areas.
"They cut off people's heads and put them on sticks, as if they were sheep. They
cut off my brother's head with a razor. Thirteen of my relatives and 450 members
of my tribe were killed by them," he said.
Part of Abu Marouf's force is paid for by the Americans. Ordinary fighters are
believed to receive $350 (£175) a month and officers $1,200, but some receive no
salary. He makes clear that he wants long-term jobs for himself and his
followers and that "they must be long-term jobs". There is more than just money
involved here. The Sunni tribal leaders want a share of power in Baghdad which
they lost when Saddam Hussein was deposed.
The US calls the Awakening movement groups "Concerned Citizens", as if they were
pacific householders heroically restoring law and order. In fact, the US has
handed over Sunni areas to the guerrilla groups such as the 1920 Brigades and
the Islamic Army who have been blowing up American solders since 2003.
This creates a serious problem for the Iraqi government and for the Americans
themselves. Though Abu Marouf wants to join the government security forces, he
volunteers that he considers the present Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki
"the worst government in the world – his army has got 13 divisions, most of
which are recruited from Shia militias controlled by Iran."
It is clear that Abu Marouf sees the Shia religious party takeover of government
as something to be resisted.
The city of Fallujah – many of its buildings still in ruins since the US Marines
stormed it in November 2004 – is peaceful compared with six months ago. Al-Qa'ida
fighters, who once dominated it, have either gone or are keeping a low profile.
The Americans have a large military camp on its outskirts. But the defeat of al-Qa'ida
is not exactly a victory for the Iraqi government.
In the centre of the city is a much-attacked police station run by Colonel
Feisal Ismail Hassan al-Zubai, an authoritative looking man, who is the elder
brother of Abu Marouf. A career officer in Saddam Hussein's Special Forces since
1983, who fought in 11 battles against Iran, he was appointed police chief in
December 2006. When I asked what he did previously he said: "I was fighting
against the Americans." Asked why had he changed sides he replied: "When I
compared the Americans to al-Qa'ida and the [Shia] militia, I chose the
Americans."
Beside Colonel Feisal is a gold framed picture of himself as a young officer.
"That was when I was a lieutenant in the real Iraqi army," he says. Behind him
is the old Iraqi flag which the government is trying to replace.
He says: "The worst day of my life was when Saddam Hussein fell in 2003." He
chokes himself off from giving an account of the first battle of Fallujah
against the Americans in April 2004 in which he appears to have played a role.
"The Americans now give me everything I want," he says.
There is no doubt that Abu Marouf and Colonel Feisal are far better people than
the savage sectarian bigots of al-Qa'ida whom they have driven away.
But, far from America having won a victory in Iraq, violence has fallen largely
because the United States has handed power to the guerrillas who fought it for
so long.
If the Iraqi government pretends it has conquered its enemies and refuses to
give men like Abu Marouf a share in power then Iraq will soon being facing
another war.
