Al-Qaeda is attempting a comeback in Iraq by enticing scores of former Sunni allies to rejoin it by paying them more than the monthly salary they receive from the government, say two key United States-backed militia leaders.
They say al-Qaeda leaders are exploiting the imminent departure of US fighting troops to ramp up membership, to show they are still a powerful force after seven years of war. Al-Qaeda is also thought to be moving to take advantage of a power vacuum created by continuing political instability in Iraq, which has no functional government more than five months after the election.
Sheikh Sabah al-Janabi, a leader of the Awakening Council — also known as the Sons of Iraq — based in Hila, 100km south of Baghdad, said that 100 out of 1 800 rank-and-file members had not collected salaries for two months, a sign that they were taking money from their former enemies.
“Al-Qaeda has made a big comeback here,” he said. “This is my neighbourhood and I know the allegiances of everyone.” The Sons of Iraq grew out of minirebellions against militants associated with al-Qaeda in late 2006. They grew into a success story, capitalised on by the then US commander, David Petraeus, who agreed to pay members a $300 monthly salary and used them to quell the insurgency.
The US handed control of the Sons of Iraq to the Iraqi government in late 2008. The programme has since been plagued by complaints about salary delays, as well as almost daily bombings or shootings targeting its leaders and members across Iraq.
Sheikh al-Janabi’s cousin, Malik Yassin al-Janabi, a joint leader in Hila, was shot dead by gunmen this week. A second Awakening Council leader, Sheikh Moustafa al-Jabouri, said disaffection among his ranks had reached breaking point as US forces depart, with most of his men not being paid for up to three months and now facing a relentless recruitment drive by local al-Qaeda members.
“My people are being offered more money. It has happened throughout Arabi Jabour and Dora,” he said of the two south Baghdad suburbs that he controls. “I warned the Americans and the government that if they continue neglecting us, the Awakening Council will look for other ways to make money.”
The director of the Awakening Council project inside the national Reconciliation Commission, Zuheir Chalabi, dismissed claims of largescale defections. “This issue is fabricated and politicised by people who are against the government and pro-Ba’athist,” he said.
Two long-term members of the Sons of Iraq said that they had been approached in recent weeks by local men whom they knew as al-Qaeda leaders and told they would be paid more to defect. Both admitted to entertaining the notion, largely because they feared what would happen if they did not.
Mohammed Hussein al-Jumaili, 25, from Dora, said: “My salary is very low, about $300 a month, and sometimes they delay paying me. Ten days ago I was in a café and two people from my area came to me. They said: ‘The Sons of Iraq experiment has failed and they will be slaughtered. If you work with us, we’ll support you. We’ll give you a good salary and you can do whatever operation you want. You will get extra money for anything that hits the Americans or Iraqi forces’.”
Sabah al-Nouri, 32, from west Baghdad, said he too had been approached by Sons of Iraq members acting as double agents. “Two months ago, al-Qaeda contacted me through people who worked with me. They gave me a good offer, a reward for each operation and a pledge to protect me. They said they would give me a weapon, a licence to carry one and that I would have more authority than now. They said: ‘We have not hurt you; why are you working against us?'”
The US government has granted visas to many Sons of Iraq members and claims future applications to emigrate to the US from leaders will be well received. Both the Pentagon and White House have hailed the Sons of Iraq experiment as a triumph. —