Inside Al-Qaeda

Inside Al-Qaeda

Introduction

Al-Qaeda (or Al Qaida) means "the base." It has been described as many different things, and it includes a "federation" of different Islamic groups, all dedicated to mayhem against the West, Christians, Jews and Muslim regimes that do not conform to its ideas. It may have only a few thousand members, but seems to have many supporters and sympathizers, some of whom may be inspired to terrorist deeds by Al-Qaeda "fatwas" (judgements). Al-Qaeda became a household word in the United States following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, apparently timed to coincide with the anniversary of the abolition of the Caliphate by Kemal Ataturk in 1922.

Al-Qaeda is a shadowy terrorist network organized by Osama Bin Laden as detailed below, and probably consists of cells of terrorists and support groups that provide financial aid, publicity, shelter and recruiting facilities for Al Qaeda. The Al-Qaeda political philosophy is radical Islamism - the doctrine that governments must be forced to conform to Islamic law as they conceive it to be. It is unlikely that all Islamists are affiliated with Al Qaeda, though it is probable that most such groups cooperate. Groups such as the Lebanese Hizbolla, Palestinian Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are suspected of affiliations with Al Qaeda, but there is a lack of evidence supporting those suspicions. Al-Qaeda believe in Jihad (Holy War) to remove Western influences from Muslim areas, especially Saudi Arabia and Palestine, and reestablishment of the Caliphate (Khalifa) which will then wage Jihad against the remainder of the non-Muslim world with the aim of conquering it. The activist ideology of Islamism is based on the writings of Sayyid Qutb, Sayed Abul Ala Mawdudi and to some extent by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani. Osama Bin Ladin has added some twists, emphasis and further radicalization of his own. (for a history of the rise of Islam and a brief overview of Islamism click here). Islamism is not orthodox Islam as generally practiced, but Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Ladin have won a great deal of admiration throughout the Middle East because they are perceived as heros who stand up to the West.

Al-Qaeda groups may cooperate with other Muslim fundamentalists and draw followers from them, but it is is not ideologically close to the Wahhabi of Saudi Arabia or the Shi'ite Islamist regime in Iran, nor is there evidence of organizational links, though many Al-Qaeda activists were recruited from Saudi Arabia. Wahhabis are intimately connected with support for the Saudi regime and do not believe in overthrowing governments, unlike Al-Qaeda. Nor is there evidence, despite some claims by Laurie Mylroie and other analysts, that Saddam Hussein of Iraq had a central role in encouraging Al-Qaeda terror, though Iraq may have sheltered and trained some Al-Qaeda terrorists, and may have used Ansar al-Islam, a terrorist group, against the Kurds.

Al-Qaeda was founded about 1988 or 1989 by the Saudi Arabian militant Osama bin Laden (or Usama bin Laden or bin Ladin). Prior to the fall of 2001, Al-Qaeda was based in of Afghanistan and sheltered by the Taleban regime there. Following the terror attacks it initiated against the USA on September 11, 2001, and the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October of 2001, Al-Qaeda has gone further underground. Leaders are currently (April, 2004) believed to hiding in a region of Afghanistan along the Pakistani border. Relatively large scale military operations have failed to dislodge them or capture or kill the leaders, and Al-Qaeda has struck at targets in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Spain and elsewhere since 2001. Bin Laden uses an extensive international network to maintain a loose connection between Muslim extremists in diverse countries. Working through high-tech means, such as faxes, satellite telephones, and the internet, he is in touch with an unknown number of followers (estimated at about 1,500) all over the world.

The organization's main immediate goal is the overthrow of what it sees as the corrupt and heretical governments of Muslim states, and their replacement with the rule of Shari'a (Islamic law). Al-Qaeda is intensely anti-Western, and views the United States in particular as the prime enemy of Islam. Bin Laden has issued several "fatwas" or religious rulings calling upon Muslims to take up arms against the United States. He, or stand-ins for him, continue to release videotaped messages threatening or calling for attacks against the United States, Western regimes, Israel and Muslim regimes that do not subscribe to his dogmas. They attempts to radicalize existing Islamic groups and create Islamic groups where none exist. They advocate destruction of the United States, which is seen as the chief obstacle to reform in Muslim societies. They supports Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bosnia, Chechnya, Eritera, Kosova, Pakistan, Somalia, Tajikistan and Yemen.

In February 1998, Bin Laden announced the formation of an umbrella organization called “The Islamic World Front for the struggle against the Jews and the Crusaders” (Al-Jabhah al-Islamiyyah al-`Alamiyyah li-Qital al-Yahud wal-Salibiyyin) Among the members of this organization are the Egyptian al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya and the Egyptian al-Jihad. Both of these groups were have been active in terrorism over the past decade.

Though the organization was not well known to the European and American public before September 11, 2001, they were apparently involved in a long series of terror attacks against American and other targets, dating back at least to 1993 (see timeline, below).

Personnel

Following is a partial list of known Al-Qaeda operatives.

Ayman Zahahiri, who was a member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and later a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, is considered to be the second in command of Al-Qaeda. He is Osama Bin Laden's doctor and is also apparently responsible for Al-Qaeda financial operations.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Kuwaiti-Pakistani, suspected mastermind of Sept. 11 attacks. Aliases: Ashraf Refaat Nabith Henin, Khalid Adbul Wadood, Salem Ali, Fahd Bin Adballah Bin Khalid At large.

Abu Zubaydah, Palestinian-Saudi, terrorist coordinator: Captured.

Muhamad Ibrahim Makkawi (Aka Saif Al-Adil_ Egyptian, bin Laden security chief: At large. Reputedly ordered bombings in Saudia from Iran.

Shaikh Saiid Al-Sharif, Saudi, bin Laden's brother-in-law and Sept. 11 financier: At large.

Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri, Saudi, Persian Gulf operations chief: Captured.

Tawfiq Attash Khallad, Yemeni, operational leader, suspected mastermind of USS Cole bombing in October 2000: At large.

Qaed Salim Sinan Al-Harethi, Yemeni, Yemen operations chief: Killed in U.S. airstrike.

Omar Al-Farouq, Kuwaiti, Southeast Asia operations chief: Captured.

Ibn Al-Shaykh Al-Libi, Libyan, training camp commander: Captured.

Saad bin Laden, Saudi, bin Laden's son: At large.

Abu Mohammad Al-Masri, Egyptian, training camp commander: At large.

Tariq Anwar Al-Sayyid Ahmad, Egyptian, operational planner: Killed in U.S. airstrike.

Abu Mohamed El Masri, reputed East African operations chief.

Mohammed Salah, Egyptian, operational planner: Killed in U.S. airstrike.

Abd Al-Hadi Al-Iraqi, training camp commander: Captured.

Ahmad Fadeel Nazal Al-Khalayleh Aka Abu Musab Zarqawi - Jordanian, operational planner: At large. Zarqawi is reputed to have been sheltered in Iraq by Saddam Hussein after escaping from Afghanistan and later fled to Iran. He and supposedly directed the assassination of an American diplomat in Jordan, as well as the attack on the synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia. Zarqawi is blamed by Washington for organizing several attacks against Iraqi civilians and coalition targets in Iraq.

Abu Zubair Al-Haili, Saudi, operational planner: Arrested.

Abu Hafs The Mauritanian, (aka Mahfouz Ould Al-Walid, Khalid Al-Shanqiti, Mafouz Walad Al-Walid, Mahamedou Ouid Slahi) operational and spiritual leader: At large.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Kuwaiti, Al Qaeda spokesman: At large.

Midhat Mursi, Egyptian, responsible for research on weapons of mass destruction: At large.

Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Saudi, financier: At large.

Hamza Al-Qatari, financier: Killed.

Ahmad Said Al-Kadr, Egyptian-Canadian, financier: At large.

Zaid Khayr, operational leader: At large.

Abu Salah Al-Yemeni: responsible for logistics, Killed.

Abu Jafar Al-Jaziri, aide to Abu Zubyadah: Killed.

Abu Basir Al-Yemeni, Yemeni, aide to Usama bin Laden: At large.

Abd Al-Aziz Al-Jamal, aide to al-Zawahri: At large.

Ramzi Binalshibh, Yemeni, planner and organizer of Sept. 11 attacks: Captured.

Zacarias Moussaoui, charged as conspirator with Sept. 11 hijackers: Arrested.

Zakariya Essabar, member of cell with Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta: At large.

Said Bahaji, member of cell with Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta: At large.

Afghanistan

Osama Bin Laden, scion of a wealthy Saudi family of Yemeni origin, and a construction engineer with a fortune estimated at $300 millions, began his career as holy warrior in 1979, when Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. He transferred his business to Afghanistan, including several hundred loyal workmen and heavy construction tool, -and set out to liberate the country from the atheistic infidel Soviet invaders. Together with Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdullah Azzam, he organized a recruiting office--Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK - Services Office) in 1984.

MAK advertised for Muslim youth to join the fight in Afghanistan. It set up recruiting offices throughout the world, including in the U.S. and Europe. Bin Laden paid for the transportation of the new recruits to Afghanistan, and set up training camps. The anti-Soviet Afghan government donated land and resources, while Bin Laden recruited experts from all over the world on guerilla warfare, sabotage, and covert operations. After about a year, he had thousands of volunteers in training in his camps. Large numbers of fighters got training and combat experience in Afghanistan, but most were not native Afghanis. Nearly half of the fighters came from Saudi Arabia. About 3,000 came from Algeria, 2,000 from Egypt, with thousands more coming from other Muslim countries such as Yemen, Pakistan and the Sudan.

The Americans had the same goal as Bin Laden: to get the Soviets out of Afghanistan. The US Central Intelligence Agency launched a $500 million-per-year program to arm and train the poor and outgunned Mujahedin guerrillas to fight the Soviet Union. The most promising leaders were found and “sponsored” by the CIA. Bin Laden’s group was one of seven major Mujahedin factions. A significant quantity of high tech American weapons, including and especially “Stinger” anti-aircraft missiles, were acquired by his fighters.

In ten years of fighting the Mujaheddin vanquished the Soviet Union and forced the USSR to leave Afghanistan. The guerilla groups became a well-organized and equipped modern army. The Mujaheddin inherited from the Soviets a huge arsenal of sophisticated weapons, and there were now thousands of seasoned Islamist warriors from a variety of countries.

Osama Bin Laden After Afghanistan
In the late 1980s, when the war was drawing to a close, Bin Laden split with MAK co-founder Azzam, and in 1988 or 1989 formed al-Qaeda to continue the work of the Jihad. Bin Laden decided to carry the war to other countries. Late in 1989 Abdallah Azzam died in the explosion of a car bomb, possibly instigated by Bin Laden..

Osama Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia to fight against the infidel government there .In April 1994, his Saudi citizenship was revoked for “irresponsible behavior,” and he was expelled from the country. With his immediate family and a large band of followers, Bin Laden moved to Khartoum in Sudan. There he set up factories and farms, some of which were established solely to supply jobs to out-of-work Mujahedin. He built roads and infrastructure for the Sudanese government and training camps for the Afghan veterans. Bin Laden’s numerous Sudanese commercial interests included: a factory to process goat skins, a construction company, a bank, a sunflower plantation, and an import-export operation.

His construction company “el-Hijrah for Construction and Development Ltd.”--in partnership with the National Islamic Front and the Sudanese military--built the new airport at Port Sudan, as well as a 1200 km-long highway linking Khartoum to Port Sudan.

For many years, Bin Laden lived in Khartoum, in a residence guarded by the local security forces, while he was arranging for many of the “Afghan veterans” to move to Sudan. Bin Laden is said to be close to Sudanese leader Omar Albashir, and to Hassan Turabi, the head of the National Islamic Front (NIF) in Sudan.

However, Sudan, which was on the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, began to thaw toward the West. Responding to US pressure, the Sudanese government requested that Bin Laden leave. In May 1996, he moved to Afghanistan, leaving behind a network of Afghan veterans and several successful factories and corporations. In August of 1996, he issued a "Declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places."

The Islamic Front for the struggle against the Jews and the Crusaders
In February 1998, Bin Laden announced the formation of an umbrella group called “The Islamic World Front for the struggle against the Jews and the Crusaders” (Al-Jabhah al-Islamiyyah al-`Alamiyyah li-Qital al-Yahud wal-Salibiyyin) Among the members of this organization are the Egyptian al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya and the Egyptian al-Jihad. The founders of the Front included, besides Bin Laden; Dr. Ayman al- Zawahiri, leader of the Egyptian Jihad; Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, a leader of the Islamic Group.

Bin Laden argued that Muslims everywhere in the world were suffering at the hands of the U.S. and Israel. He said the Muslims must wage holy war against their real enemies, not only to rid themselves of unpopular regimes backed by the Americans and Israelis. but also protect their faith. Bin Laden asserted that the US was vulnerable and could be defeated in war. This would happen in the same way as the USSR suffered humiliation at the hands of the Afghan and Arab “mujahideen” in Afghanistan and was eventually dismembered

On 14 May 1998, The London Al-Quds al-'Arabi reported that clerics in Afghanistan had issued a fatwa requiring the removal of U.S. forces from the Gulf region. Addressing Muslims around the world, the Afghan ulema said: “The enemies of Islam are not limited to a certain group or party; all atheists are enemies of Islam, and they take one another as friends.” The Afghan ulema declared “jihad -- based on the rules of the Shari'a -- against the United States and its followers.” They urged Islamic governments to perform the duty of “armed jihad against the enemies of Islam,” pointing out that “if Muslims are lax in their responsibility, the enemies of Islam will occupy the two holy mosques as well, just as they occupied the al- Aqsa Mosque.” They stressed, in a statement attached to the fatwa, that: “This fatwa--with the evidence and the rulings issued by early and current ulema, on which it is based--is not merely a fatwa issued by the ulema of a Muslim country, but rather a religious fatwa that every Muslim should adopt and work under.”

Member Organizations

Among the organizations whose membership in the Islamic Front is known are the Egyptian Jihad, the Egyptian Armed Group, the Pakistan Scholars Society, the Partisans Movement in Kashmir, the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh, and the Afghan military wing of the “Advice and Reform” commission led by Osama Bin Laden. Al-Qaeda is also believed to be linked with: militant Kashmiri groups, The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, ( IMU), the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines, the GIA, or Armed Islamic Group, in Algeria and a radical offshoot known as the Salafist group, or GSPC. In addition, groups such as the Hizb-ut-Tahrir, are probably favorably disposed toward Al-Qaeda without being formal members. Hizb ut Tahrir is a group centered in Central Asia, but with branches elsewhere and in particular in Denmark and is believed to have sent fighters to aid the Taleban against the Northern Alliance. Officially, Hizb ut-Tahrir is against use of violence for regime change in Muslim countries.

Characteristic Declarations of Al-Qaeda Prior to 9-11

According to the “Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places,”

“the latest and the greatest of [the] aggressions, incurred by the Muslims since the death of the Prophet . . .is the occupation of the land of the two Holy Places - the foundation of the house of Islam, the place of the revelation, the source of the message and the place of the noble Ka'ba, the Qiblah of all Muslims - by the armies of the American Crusaders and their allies.”

The declaration is supposed to be the first step in “correcting what had happened to the Islamic world in general, and the Land of the two Holy Places in particular. . . Today . . . the sons of the two Holy Places, have begun their Jihad in the cause of Allah, to expel the occupying enemy out of the country of the two Holy places.”

In an interview with Nida’ul Islam several months later Bin Laden detailed the work that has been done in this direction after terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, and underlined their strategic importance:

“There were important effects to the two explosions in Riyadh on both the internal and external aspects. Most important amongst these is the awareness of the people to the significance of the American occupation of the country of the two sacred mosques, and that the original decrees of the regime are a reflection of the wishes of the American occupiers. So the people became aware that their main problems were caused by the American occupiers and their puppets in the Saudi regime.”

“. . . these missions also paved the way for the raising of the voices of opposition against the American occupation from within the ruling family and the armed forces; in fact we can say that the remaining Gulf countries have been effected to the same degree, and that the voices of opposition to the American occupation have begun to be heard at the level of the ruling families and the governments of the . . . Gulf countries.”

Bin Laden claimed the new Islamic Front was the force that will eventually vanquish America:

“The movement is driving fast and light forward. And I am sure of our victory with Allah’s help against America and the Jews. . . After the Americans entered the Holy Land, many emotions were roused in the Muslim world, more than we have seen before. . .The co-operation is expanding between general supporters of this religion. From this effort, the International Islamic Front for the Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders was formed, which we are a member of with other groups.”

Western Awareness of Al-Qaeda

Despite the European newspaper coverage noted above, most people in the West, and in the USA in particular, were blissfully ignorant of the existence of Al-Qaeda prior to September, 2001. In fact, according to Cofer Black, at one time Director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, the CIA had been tracking Osama Bin Laden at least since his arrival in Sudan in 1991. They knew all about the fatwahs, the organizations and the threat. In his testimony given after the attacks of 9-11, Cofer listed details of some of the early information:

• In December 1992, bin Ladin financed Islamic extremists who attacked a hotel in Yemen housing US military personnel.

• In 1993, we learned that bin Ladin was channeling funds to Egyptian extremists.

• In 1994, al-Qa'ida was financing at least three terrorist training camps in northern Sudan.

So the CIA had known about Al Qaida for quite a while, yet the American people had not even heard the word "Al-Qaeda" and were not to hear it until 1999.

By January 1996, the US FBI and CIA had established a joint intelligence station codenamed Alex, and were zealously tracking the activities of Al-Qaeda. Eighteen months later, according to Richard Clarke, they had found cells of Al-Qaeda in 56 countries. In August of 1996, Bin Laden had issued his ""Declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places," but the declaration did not get very much publicity, and Al-Qaeda was apparently considered to be one among many threats.

In testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on January 28, 1998, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said the US faced three types of international terror:

The first category, state-sponsored terrorism, violates every convention of international law. State sponsors of terrorism include Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, and North Korea. Put simply, these nations view terrorism as a tool of foreign policy. In recent years, the terrorist activities of Cuba and North Korea have declined as their economies have deteriorated. However, the activities of the other states I mentioned continue and, in some cases, have intensified during the past several years.

The second category of international terrorist threat is made up of formalized terrorist organizations. These autonomous, generally transnational organizations have their own infrastructures, personnel, financial arrangements, and training facilities. They are able to plan and mount terrorist campaigns on an international basis, and actively support terrorist activities in the United States.

Extremist groups such as Lebanese Hizballah, the Egyptian Al-Gamat Al-Islamiya, and the Palestinian Hamas have placed followers inside the United States who could be used to support an act of terrorism here.

The third category of international terrorist threat stems from loosely affiliated extremists--characterized by the World Trade Center bombers and rogue terrorists such as Ramzi Ahmed Yousef. These loosely affiliated extremists may pose the most urgent threat to the United States at this time because their membership is relatively unknown to law enforcement, and because they can exploit the mobility that emerging technology and a loose organizational structure offer.

This testimony came two years after the establishment of Station Alex. Theoretically, the FBI knew all about Al-Qaeda and bin Ladin. Nonetheless, Al-Qaeda was not mentioned anywhere in his testimony. Osama Bin Laden was just one of many threats according to Feeh, and he didn't see any connection between separate incidents and persons such as Khobar towers, Ramzi Yousef and the World Trade Center bombers. Freeh was not asking for more money to fight urgent threats from Al-Qaeda apparently. In fact, his major concern seems to have been to combat the bill that finally removed US export controls from encryption technology, which had long since been stolen by any terrorist who wanted it.

In his speech following the US attacks on Afghanistan in Sudan in 1998, after the bombings of the embassies in Africa, President Clinton spoke of "the network of radical groups affiliated with and funded by Osama bin Ladin,'' but did not name Al Qaeda at all. Likewise, Freeh testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in September of 1998. His testimony was in many places a word for word duplicate of the testimony of January. He added a mention of Bin Laden however, only to belittle his importance as a "rogue" terrorist:

"As attention focuses on Usama bin Ladin in the aftermath of the East African bombings, I believe it is important to remember that rogue terrorists such as bin Ladin represent just one type of threat that we face. It is imperative that we maintain our abilities to counter the broad range of threats that confronts us."

There was no mention of Al Qaeda in this testimony. There was no mention of Islamism either in his testimony or in the speech of President Clinton. The uninitiated listener could have no idea that there was an ideology that today we call "Islamism," or a large number of groups including Al Qaeda which followed this radical ideology. Osama Bin Laden was described as a "rogue," a lone wolf. By this time the FBI had all of the Fatwas, the information gathered by Station Alex, and Israeli intelligence reports that had fingered Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

By November 1998, Osama Bin Laden was being indicted for terrorist acts against the USA, yet there was still little talk about a major threat. Osama Bin Laden was only added to the FBI's 10 most wanted list on June 7, 1999. In the FBI press release, Al-Qaeda is also mentioned as his organization in that press release.

According to one analyst, Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism, Terry Turchie, appearing before the House Subcommittee on National Security, said on July 26, 2000, "FBI investigation and analysis indicates that the threat of terrorism in the united states is low." Turchie did not mention al Qaeda, Islamic militants, or even "religious" extremists. Rather, he cited the "serious terrorist threat" posed "animal-rights and environmental extremists," and by "right-wing groups." All of the 9-11 conspirators were in the United States by then.

Al-Qaeda was held responsible for the attacks on the Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia, for the bomb that exploded in the Twin Towers in 1993, and for the attacks on US embassies in Nairobi and Dar as -Salaam in August 1998 and other terror attacks (see timeline below). However, the American public was largely ignorant of the existence of Al-Qaeda. It was not often mentioned publicly as a terrorist organization by administration spokespersons, and it appeared only rarely in reports in the US media.

It was only after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 that administration spokespersons and USA media began focusing on Al-Qaeda publicly as responsible for terror attacks and media and most analysts began describing it with varying degrees of accuracy. In fact, it was late in September 2001 before FBI chief Robert Mueller publicly blamed the attacks of September 11 on Al-Qaeda.

Timeline of Al Qaeda terror attacks

The following are probably or certainly the work of Al-Qaeda:

February 26, 1993: Six people killed and about a thousand injured after a truck bomb explodes in the basement of the World Trade Center towers in New York.

October 3, 4 1993: Eighteen American soldiers are attacked and killed in Mogadishu, Somalia. A U.S. indictment later charged bin Laden and his followers with training the attackers. This is the incident described in the movie Black Hawk Down.

January, 1995: Following an explosion in a Manila apartment, Philippine police uncover a plot, code-named Bojinka or “Big Bang,” to blow up 12 airplanes bound for the U.S. Authorities arrest Abdul Hakim Murad, a Pakistani who is an associate of Ramzi Yousef, implicated in the Twin Towers bombing.

November 13, 1995: Five US soldiers and two Indian nationals are killed and more than 60 people wounded when a car bomb explodes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

June 25, 1996: Nineteen killed and 386 wounded when a truck bomb explodes at the US military base of Khobar near the town of Dhahran in Saudi Arabia.

August 7, 1998: 224 people killed and over 5000 injured, mostly Africans, when US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam in east Africa are bombed.

October 12, 2000: 17 US sailors killed and 38 injured when a suicide attack on USS Cole in Aden is carried out.

September 11, 2001: Nearly 3,000 killed as hijacked airliners destroy the Twin Towers in New York city and crash into the Pentagon.

April, 2002 : Explosion at historic synagogue on the island of Djerba, in Tunisia leaves 21 dead, including 14 German tourists.

May, 2002: A car explodes outside hotel in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 14, including 11 French citizens.

June, 2002: A bomb explodes outside American Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12.

October 12, 2002: A bomb explodes in a Bali nightclub killing 202 people, many of them Westerners. Islamic group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) is blamed for the blasts. In the months following the attacks about 30 alleged JI members are arrested and put on trial. This group is widely believed to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda. Recently (April 3, 2004) suspects in the bombing said they were inspired by Fatwas of Bin Laden, but the leader of Jemaah Islamiah denies any connection to Al-Qaeda or Bin Laden:

Mohamed Nasir Abbas, one of the four men interviewed by Malaysia's TV3, said the bombings were inspired by religious edicts, known as fatwas, attributed to bin Laden.

"People who believed in the fatwa carried out bombings," Nasir said. "Therefore they bombed churches. The bombing in Bali was based on a policy to take revenge against America."
(smh.com.au April 3, 2004 - Bali bombs 'inspired' by bin Laden)

November 28, 2002: Two attacks are launched against Israeli targets in Mombasa, Kenya. A hotel blast kills 16 - including the three suicide bombers - and a missile is fired but misses an Israeli plane. A message on a website purporting to come from al-Qaeda claims responsibility for the attack.

May 12, 2003: At least 34 people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh, hitting luxury compounds housing foreign nationals and the offices of a US-Saudi company. The US and Saudi Governments say al-Qaeda is the prime suspect for blasts, which coincide with a visit to the kingdom by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

May 16, 2003: Casablanca is hit by a series of suicide bombings that kill 41 people, including 12 attackers. Moroccan authorities say that the attacks are linked to "international terror". Four men convicted and sentenced to death in September for the attacks are said by the Moroccan authorities to be members of the Salafia Jihadia. This group is widely believed to be linked to al-Qaeda.

August 5, 2003: Twelve people die and 150 are injured in a suicide bomb attack at a US-run luxury hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia. Indonesia's defense minister blames Jamaah Islamiah militants for the attack

October 6, 2002: A crew member dies after an apparent suicide bomb attack on a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen. The US Government links the attack to al-Qaeda.

October 28, 2002: U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley is gunned down in front of his house in Amman as he walks to his car. Two men were involved. They were identified as Salem Sa'ed Salem bin Suweid, a Libyan national, and Yasser Fathi Ibraheem, a Jordanian. They confessed to membership in al Qaeda and confessed that they received their orders from a senior al Qaeda leader, Ahmad Fadeel Nazal Al-Khalayleh, known as Abu Musa'ab Al-Zarqawi.

November 15, 2003: At least 23 people are killed and more than 300 injured in two attacks on synagogues in Istanbul.

November 20, 2003: In coordinated attacks on the British Consulate and the HSBC bank offices in Istanbul, 27 people die and more than 450 are injured.

March 11, 2004: Bombs in Madrid city trains kill 192. The Abu Hafs al-Masri group took credit and claimed it was affiliated with Al-Qaeda. Apparently, this is the same group that was involved in Turkish and Saudi bombings. Spanish government claims that the blasts were the work of the Basque ETA separatists were subsequently totally discredited. The announced aim of the terrorist acts is to persuade the Spanish government to withdraw its troops from Iraq. The opposition unseats the government in the subsequent election, and opposition leader Zapatero announces that Spain will withdraw its troops if the Iraq occupation is not put under the aegis of the UN by June 30, 2004.

At least some of the mass terror attacks in Iraq and Russia (associated with Chechnya) are also attributable to Al-Qaeda or groups close to Al-Qaeda.

Ami Isseroff

Links

A concise history of Islam and the Arabs

Who is Osama Bin Laden?

Osama Bin Laden's Latest message

Al Qaeda Timeline - Before September 11, 2001

Links to additional background about Al-Qaeda after 9-11

Dossier of documents on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Al-Qaeda Training Manual Part I

Al-Qaeda Training Manual Part II

Main History Page Mewnews Main Page

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This page provides an overview of Iraqi history and the history of the conflict between Iraq, the US and the UN, Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction, obstruction of UN inspections and provides some key resource links.

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Iraq and other "Persian Gulf" countries were created following World War I as protectorates of Great Britain. They were carved out of Mesopotamia, formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. Iraq itself includes three major groups: Sunni Muslim Arabs in the center surrounding the capital of Baghdad, Kurds in the north and Shia Muslims in the south. About 15% of the population is Kurdish, 80% Arab. Some 60% are Shi'ite Arab Muslims like their neighbors in Iran, but they are Arabs, not Persians. There are also significant Assyrian and Turkomen minorities in the north. None of of these groups were given any national rights in the League of nations settlement. National and tribal disputes, as well as friction with Western powers trying to control Iraqi oil, have played a great part in Iraqi history. Click for a detailed chart of the Shi'ite political groups (PDF). Click on map to display a larger map.

British and US interests were fixed on Iraq after early discoveries of petroleum there, and the US succeeded in pressuring Great Britain to share petroleum rights in Iraq. In 1931, Iraq became independent with a pro-British regime under King Feisal and Nuri-as-Said. A pro-Axis coup in 1941 was reversed by British intervention. After World War II, the US, worried about Soviet influence, tried to make Iraq the anchor of a NATO-like pro-Western alliance, the Baghdad pact. In 1958, the pro-West government was overthrown by ‘Abd al-Karim Qasim. Qasim survived a Ba'athist coup that included participation of Saddam Hussein in 1959. Kuwait and other neighboring protectorates became independent of Britain beginning in 1961, and Iraq laid claims on them owing to oil resources and the need for outlets to the sea. Qasim was overthrown in 1963 by Abd al-Salam ‘Arif, apparently with the help of the CIA. Arif's government was overthrown by a Baathist coup in 1968 with the aid of the US Central Intelligence Agency, which had supposedly been encouraging the Baath and Saddam Hussein for many years. By 1979, Saddam Hussein had become Prime Minister and began consolidating a dictatorial regime. Saddam appointed most high officials from among members of his family and natives of his home town village of Tikriti.

Saddam Hussein

Iran and Iraq have had a running border dispute that involves the delineation of the border, water rights along the Shatt-El-Arab waterway and navigation rights. The Shat El-Arab constitutes Iraq's only outlet to the sea. Iran had laid claims to border territories and and taken them by force, and had also supported a Kurdish revolt. A 1975 treaty following the Algiers accord of that year had supposedly settled the dispute. The Shah withdrew support for the Kurdish revolt, which collapsed. However, the agreement was not honored in full and Iran did not return all the land that Iraq considered to be its own.

Saddam decided to capitalize on the disorder of the Iranian revolution, and the antipathy to Iran that had been generated in the West and especially in the US, in order to pursue a war for territory and navigation rights with Iran. He invaded Iran in 1980, initiating an eight year war that cost about a million casualties. During the war, Saddam used chemical warfare against Iran as well as in suppressing internal revolts by the Kurds in the north. The Iranians used gas warfare as well. Saddam's suppression of Kurds, known as the anfal, began in 1987 and killed an estimated 182,000, destroying thousands of villages and creating about 400,000 refugees. The United States and Western powers supported Iraq with arms and Western companies helped Saddam build chemical, biological and nuclear weapons capabilities. In 1981, Israel attacked and destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor supplied by France, where Saddam had hoped to produce enough fissionable material to make a bomb. Subsequently, Iraq concentrated on trying to obtain fissionable materials from abroad apparently. A secret 1988 document revealed a plan to use radioactive Zirconium as the basis of "dirty bombs." The war with Iran came to an end in 1988 after both sides were exhausted. Saddam was heavily in debt because of the war, and sought financial aid from different countries. When that was not forthcoming, he began charging that Kuwait was illegally pumping oil that actually belonged to Iraq.

In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait despite warnings from the US and Egypt, and it conquered and annexed Kuwait. Iraq did not respond to US, Arab country and UN warnings to withdraw from Kuwait. Accordingly, UN allies led by the USA launched operation Desert Storm in February 1991, successfully reversing the invasion of Kuwait. However, the US did not try to remove Saddam Hussein from power and allowed him to suppress Kurdish and Shi'a revolts. Under terms of the UN resolutions terminating the war, Iraq was to have destroyed all stockpiles and development facilities for nonconventional weapons. A UN inspection mechanism was created to verify the destruction. A mechanism of economic sanctions against Iraq was put in place in an attempt to get Saddam to comply with the disarmament provisions of previous resolutions. A long series of UN resolutions cited Iraqi violations and attempted to obtain Iraqi compliance with previous resolutions. Iraq did not disclose much of its chemical biological and nuclear weapons capabilities voluntarily, but the UN inspections by UNSCOM and reports by defectors did disclose stockpiles of VX and other agents. In 1998, after the discovery that Iraq was weaponizing VX, Iraq halted cooperation with inspectors. Despite sporadic allied bombing raids, no concerted effort was made to return the inspectors to Iraq (in 1999 UNSCOM was dissolved and replaced by UNMOVIC)

According to critics, the UN-imposed economic sanctions caused extreme hardship and poverty in Iraq. An oil for food program established in 1995 by UN Security Council Resolution 986 allowed Iraq to export limited quantities of oil to pay for food and medicines. However, Iraq diverted part of the income from this program to weapons development by charging a clandestine surcharge. Credits for cheap oil were also distributed to foreign politicians and others who could be helpful to Saddam's regime. Jordan was an active trading partner with Iraq. According to the dossier released by the British government in 2002, Iraq earned an estimated $3 billion in illicit revenues in 2001 (CIA estimates are much higher), used for developing weapons capabilities and other aggressive activities. According to the U.S. State department, Iraq has been exporting food received under the oil for food program, and has earned revenues from this program that should have been more than adequate to provide food, clothing and medical supplies for the Iraqi populace.

Iraq was linked to an attempted assassination of former US President George Bush, and supported Palestinian suicide bombings and other violence openly, in return for Palestinian support of Iraq. Saddam Hussein paid rewards of $25,000 to families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Iraq under Saddam was known to sponsor Palestinian terrorist groups, including (until recently at least) the Fatah Revolutionary Council, known as the "Abu Nidal group." The Ansar Al-Islam group, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, was based in northern Iraq, but its relation to the Saddam regime was unclear.

Following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, the United States began making it successively more clear that it intended to remove the regime of Saddam Hussein, and toward the end of 2002, it became increasingly apparent that the US intended to launch a renewed invasion of Iraq.

US government officials, including Condoleeza Rice, charged that Iraq is linked to the Al-Qaeda network of Osama Bin Laden, and may have been implicated in the World Trade Center attacks. Specific charges include evidence from defectors that hijackers trained on a mock-up Boeing 707 at Salman Pak base, and evidence that hijacker Mohamed Atta met with an Iraqi diplomat in Czechoslovakia. The US believed that Saddam had substantial quantities of chemical and biological weapons, and was actively pursuing a nuclear weapons program. However, the US government has yet (January 2004) to release any official document providing evidence that links Saddam to Al-Qaeda or the World Trade Center attack, and in fact, the US government has all but admitted that these charges were unfounded.

Iraq attempted to mend relations with key Muslim states including Iran and Syria, in order to prevent formation of a second coalition to support a war against it. In September 2002, the question of Iraq was returned to the UN as rumors and signs of US war preparations increased. President Bush addressed the UN September 12, 2002 and asked for multilateral action against Iraq based on a new resolution to be proposed by the United States and others. Iraq responded by promptly agreeing to unconditional renewal of inspections provided that no resolution was passed. The US effort to gather support for an attack on Iraq faced opposition on the following grounds:

Arab countries and supporters who claimed that any action against Iraq is an action aimed at all Arabs, and serves Israeli interests.

Those who believed that the inspections should be renewed and continued.

Those who believed that the US should not act without UN backing. Many people of this opinion also opposed a UN resolution.

The US and Britain obtained an initial resolution (1441) authorizing inspections, and Iraq complied. Inspectors reported slow progress since the resolution was passed in October 2002. Both Hans Blix, head of the UNMOVIC inspection team and Mohamed El-Baradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency insisted that they needed more time to continue inspections. Blix noted that Iraqis were not cooperating fully and did not allow any examination of scientists outside Iraq. He also noted that the initial report issued by Iraq did not account for WMD and weapons that were found in previous inspections and supposedly destroyed. Mohamed El-Baradei, head of the IAEA, claimed there was no evidence that Iraq possessed any nuclear capability. At least one intelligence report that had formed the basis of the case made by the US that Iraq was trying to acquire nuclear capabilities turned out to be based on forged documents. The US and Britain were not able to get agreement on a second UN resolution that would authorize force. France and Russia threatened to veto any such resolution, while Germany, which does not have a seat on the Security council, also opposed it. Nonetheless, US President Bush made a speech giving Iraq 48 hours to prove that it was disarming, and when they failed to comply. The US claimed it had assembled a "coalition" of over countries that supported the attack, but most countries opposed it, including almost every country in Europe and all countries in the Middle East except Israel. US and British forces that had massed around Iraq, attacked. The attack opened on the evening of March 18 with a failed attempt to kill Saddam Hussein and other top officials who were meeting in Baghdad. For several days, the US continued to claim that Saddam was dead, and that Iraqi forces were disorganized, though Saddam appeared and spoke on Iraqi television. The initial cruise missile attack was followed several hours later by bombing of Baghdad and advances of US and British troops from Kuwait northward, taking the port city of Umm Qasr and the Fao peninsula, and besieging Basra.

The allied attack was hampered by the fact that Turkey did not allow US forces to enter Iraq from its territory, virtually eliminating a northern front in the first days. However, it is now believed that this was a ruse to keep Iraqi attention away from the main attack, which came from the south. By March 27, the US had landed about 1,000 paratroops near Irbil in the north, and promised that more were on their way. Kurdish forces crossed out of the "safe zone" established for Kurds in 1991 and into Iraq-held territory near Chamchamal. However, the long columns of willing deserters that the Americans expected did not immediately materialize. The advance was held up by sand storms that prevented air support and plagued by casualties from friendly fire. Americans were dismayed when US helicopter pilots were taken prisoner and shown on Iraqi television. Coalition forces were also massacred after they had surrendered Americans charged. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in besieged Basra became very difficult. Allies could not get relief ships into Umm El Qasr because the harbor had to be cleared first. Oil fires were set by Iraqis in several locations. US forces reported that Iraqis had shot prisoners of war who had surrendered, while Iraqis claimed that the US had bombed a market in Baghdad, kill 15 and wounding many more. The war ignited opposition in the Arab world. Large crowds clashed with police and attacked US embassies.

The Iraqi Information Minister Mohamed as Sayyaf, later known as "Baghdad Bob," appeared daily on Iraqi television, even as US forces had entered Baghdad, ensuring correspondents that all was well, and that the Iraqi forces loyal to Saddam would repel the "homosexuals and cowards" and save Saddam's regime. NBC (formerly CNN) correspondent Peter Arnett insisted that the US was losing the war and broadcast for the Iraqi government, a move that got him fired from NBC. Arnett was hired by the Daily Mirror, where he continued to insist on "the truth" - that the war was lost for the allies.

In reality however, the US and Britain were advancing steadily, exploiting opportunities as they opened up.

By April 9, the US was in control of Baghdad. A small but enthusiastic crowd cheered as US Marines helped them tear down a statue of Saddam in the city center. BBC correspondent Rageh Omar commented: . as the image of the Iraqi leader tumbled to the ground the decades of pain and anger welled up and the crowd surged forward to jump on the statue to smash it to pieces. It is a true expression of their anger at over 25 years of rule, they are seeking to vent their anger at the government and joy that it has now fallen. This is an historic moment and it took place in front of ordinary Iraqi people, US marines and the gathered media of the world.

Despite the early setbacks, the speed of the victory astounded the Arab world. Conspiracy theories were promptly advanced to account for it. Al Jazeera television claimed that the US had used nuclear weapons in Baghdad to wipe out the Republican Guard divisions, and later claimed that the victory was made possibly by a deal concluded between a Republican Guard commander and coalition forces. There is no evidence for any of these claims.

The victory was marred by widespread looting as well as destruction wrought by coalition bombings. The Baghdad museum and other institutions were looted of priceless archeological finds, and Mosul university was trashed by looters as well, while US forces looked on without intervening. As it turned out, looting of museum artifacts was not as widespread as had been assumed. However, it subsequently became evident that the US had allowed large quantities of explosives and nuclear materials to disappear from sites sealed by the IAEA and had left those sites unguarded, despite repeated warnings from the IAEA and other sources. Several thousand tons of explosives disappeared from the Al-Qaaqa base and presumably fell into the hands of Iraqi resistance..

Meanwhile, resistance to the US occupation grew. After Friday prayers, angry crowds gathered and chanted "No to Saddam, No to Bush" and other such slogans. The crowds were incited by Sunni and Shi'a imams who told them that the war was waged to protect Israel.

By April 22-23, the situation had calmed sufficiently to allow a huge traditional pilgrimage of Shi'ite Muslims to their shrine in Karbala. This was the first such pilgrimage on foot allowed in many years. The pilgrims were grateful for their freedom and cursed Saddam, but not many connected their new found freedom with gratitude for the US.

Wanted Iraqi government figures continued to turn themselves in or were caught by US/British forces and Iraqi allies. Former foreign minister Tariq Aziz turned himself in on April 24. However, reports continued to indicate that despite several allied attempts on his life, Saddam Hussein was alive and was in fact in Iraq.

Critics of the war continued to point out that no definitive evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction, the reason for the war, had been found at all. US teams continued to search for evidence of WMD, finding only suggestive clues and some "promising leads." Ultimately, several reports determined that there were no WMD in Iraq, and probably had been no WMD before the war. Intelligence suggesting that Iraq had been purchasing aluminum tubes and other materials for a nuclear weapons program and was intent on creating an atomic bomb turned out to have been based on forgeries and inventions of defectors, and may have been "improved" by US government officials anxious to find a rational for invading Iraq.

US and British forces did uncover evidence of the brutality and corruption of Saddam Hussein's regime, including mass graves for thousands of political prisoners and huge stashes of cash, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. Embarrassing intelligence documents implicated Russian and German intelligence in aiding and abetting Saddam, and reportedly showed that British MP Galloway, a prominent war opponent had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from Saddam's regime. Subsequently, these charges proved to be apparently unfounded, but many other politicians and businessmen were shown to have received bribes from the Saddam regime in the form of oil coupons, and other documentation involving Galloway emerged.

France and Germany, formerly outspoken and bitter critics of the war, initially hurried to align themselves with the United States in the hope of participating in lucrative post-war reconstruction contracts, but were disappointed when the US and the Provisional Iraqi Ruling Council announced that no bids for reconstruction would be given to France or Germany. Europe again distanced itself from the war when it became apparent that the US would not succeed in restoring order quickly in Iraq, and French President Chirac continued to insist that the war and US occupation were illegal.

Some of Iraq's Muslim neighbors, in particular Syria, were quite bitter at the US victory. Syrian President Bashar El-Assad told a Lebanese daily that the Arab people would resist the Iraqi occupation. The Pentagon reported that Syria send busloads of Arab fighters, including Palestinians, returning Iraqis, Egyptians and others into Iraq, that Syria was hiding escaped Iraqi government figures, and that Syria might be storing Iraqi WMD. Syria denied these allegations, but the US captured many non-Iraqi fighters in Iraq, and intercepted busloads of such fighters coming from Syria. Opponents of the war insisted that US complaints against Syria were part of an Israeli inspired conspiracy to get the US to attack Syria, a view that was also voiced by the Syrian government.

On May 1, 2003, President Bush declared the war over. The US had still not succeeded in installing an interim government, despite two meetings held for this purpose. Some services were restored in the destroyed cities of Iraq, but numerous people remained destitute and hungry. In Faluja, anti-US riots broke out and marines were forced to fire on crowds on different occasions resulting in about 20 civilian deaths in total.

In June, the US announced that it was giving up on the plan to have Iraqis from a provisional government because of internal rivalries, and would instead appoint a government. This interim government took office in July, but bombings and sabotage continued, and reconstruction work lagged behind forecasts. US morale was bouyed when Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay were killed in a shootout with US troops, but Saddam remained at large throughout the summer. despite a huge monetary reward offered for information leading his capture. A number of videotapes supposedly made by Saddam were aired. An explosion in the Shi'a holy city of Najaf killed an important Shi'a religious leader and over 90 other worshippers, after another explosion at a UN compound had killed over 20. Not a day passed without some act of violence against US troops or Iraqis who supported them or were opposed to the regime of Saddam. The coalition failed to find any evidence of weapons of mass destruction and in August 2003, evidence emerged that both US and British officials had distorted intelligence estimates to help make a case that there were WMD still in Iraq.

UN Security Resolution 1511 on Iraq recognized the legitimacy of the coalition appointed interim government, while calling for a timetable for Iraqi self-governance. The coalition announced that Iraq self-governance would be achieved in June of 2004, though the coalition forces would remain in Iraq.

On December 13, 2003, US forces captured Saddam Hussein alive in a small underground hideout. No shots were fired during the capture. Saddam had grown long hair and a beard. The capture was greeted with jubilant celebrations in Iraqi cities. Provisional government officials promised that Saddam would be tried for crimes against the Iraqi people. More about the capture of Saddam.

The capture of Saddam did not immediately stop the resistance to the coalition, though resistance attacks began to abate soon after. In January, it was announced that the Kurds would be allowed at least initially to maintain their semi-autonomous status, achieved in 1991 after desert storm, even after June 1994.

After it became clear that th US could not bring about a stable government in Iraq, the US asked for the help of the UN. On January 1, 2004, Lakhdar Brahimi was appointed as a special envoy. He recommended a government that would be based on technocrats rather than reflecting the political power structure.

By March, 2004, factions had agreed on an interim constitution, which was approved by the coalition partners despite clauses that specify Islam as a source of legislation. However, on March 2, explosions in Karbala and Baghdad during the Shi'a Ashura holy day killed as many as 271 Shi'a worshippers. US authorities remained powerless to stop or control terror attacks in Iraq. For the most part, the perpetrators of the attacks remained unknown, and the attacks were variously attributed to foreign fighters including Al-Qaeda and to dissident Iraqis, including elements loyal to Saddam Hussein.

Terror attacks mounted in the spring of 2004, as the date for handing over sovereignty to the interim government approached. In Falluja, gangs attacked and killed US security employees, prompting a bloody reprisal by the US. Eventually, the US withdrew and handed over official control to the Iraqi army and police, but reports claimed that Falluja was ruled by armed gangs of religious fanatics who terrorize those who commit infractions against religious rules. In Najaf, Shi'ite extremist Moqtada Sadr and his Mehdi army took refuge in holy places, and the US besieged the city, but eventually the Mehdi army left the holy places under a truce agreement. Groups apparently affiliated with Al-Qaeda kidnapped foreigners including an American and a South Korean, whom they beheaded. Most alarming, the newly recruited and trained Iraqi troops and police proved to be largely ineffective against insurgents, often running away or deserting to enemy forces where there was fighting, or keeping to their bases and doing nothing, as in Falluja.

By June, terror attacks were occurring almost every day in numerous cities in Iraq. Oil exports were crippled by sabotage of the pipelines and storage facilities. On a single day, over 100 people, mostly Iraqis, were killed in a series of coordinated attacks. The attacks caused revulsion even among Jihadist leaders, who denounced those who killed civilians.

On June 7, the UN Security council unanimously passed resolution 1546, which legitimized the authority of the interim government that was about to take over power in Iraq. The resolution endorses the new interim government of Iraq, allows the multinational force to provide security in partnership with the new government, sets out a leading role for the U.N. in helping the political process over the next year, and calls upon the international community to aid Iraq in its transition. This resolution represented a compromise that was supposed to end the bitter controversy between France and Russia, on the one hand, who opposed the US war in Iraq, and the US, Britain and coalition partners on the other. It supposedly opened the way for greater international cooperation in solving the Iraq crisis. On June 28, Nato announced that it would accede to the request of the Iraqi government and help provide training for security forces, but there was little real NATO involvement in Iraq.

Possibly to preserve its political power against the technocratic government that Lakhdar Brahimi wished to install, the interim governing council, which was previously unable to agree about very much, united to chose Iyad Allawi as Iraqi Prime Minister. Allawi is a Shi'ite and was at one time a member of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party. Al-Qaeda threatened to kill Allawi. In a surprise move to forestall terror attacks, the handover of power to the new government was moved up by two days. On June 28, in an informal ceremony, US administrator Paul Bremer handed over authority to Iyad Allawi and left the country.

The installation of the new government did not cause an abatement in terror attacks. On the contrary, blasts killed Iraqi police and police trainees as well as US military personnel almost every day. Foreign personnel were frequently kidnapped and held for ransom or in order to force their governments to leave the coalition forces or to induce their employers to leave Iraq. Several such hostages were beheaded and their beheadings shown on videotape.

A second truce was negotiated with the Mehdi army of Moqhtada Sadr in Najaf and in Baghdad. However, in Falluja, the situation was deemed intolerable. The town, as noted above, had been taken over by insurgents, and the US insisted that it was the hiding place of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, supposedly an Al-Qaeda leader responsible for extensive terror operations. The US gathered troops for an offensive in Falluja, while the Iraqi government tried to negotiate a peaceful takeover of the city.

By 2006 it was evident even to the US administration that the Iraq war effort was in trouble. The Iraqi government had not implemented most of the reforms agreed with the US. The incidence of violence and suicide bombings was rising. Outside factors, especially Syria, Iran and al-Qaeda were implicated in the violence. Iraqi army troops were not being readied to replace US troops. The Iraq Study Group Report: recommended setting deadlines for Iraqi government action, and a series of other steps, including progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace, which was assumed to be linked to the Iraq war. It also recommended deadlines for US withdrawals from Iraq. Congress subsequently tried to set such deadlines, but the move was vetoed by the US administration. The US began a "surge" - sending more troops to Iraq to attempt to contain violence and pacify major areas. By August 2007, most observers agreed that the surge was not particularly effective. The Iraqi government meanwhile continued to lose support as Shi'a and Sunni factions left over sectarian policy disagreements.

A new reality emerged in 2008. While the surge did not immediately eliminate terrorism in Iraq, unbridled terror by Al-Qaeda in Iraq, kindled a spontaneous "awakening" by Sunni tribesman that was judiciously encouraged by the United States. The awakening also helped US intelligence efforts as tribesman cooperated with government and coalition forces, and the Iraqi army itself began to take charge of the situation. Suicide bombings continued, but at a slower pace. The Maliki government faced down the Shia "Mehdi Army" and forced it to accept a truce. Province after province was turned over to Iraqi government control as the Iraqi government appeared to grow stronger and the army more competent. A US political debate over continued involvement in Iraq, once the central issue of the US presidential race, seemed to become a moot point after the Iraq government itself set a deadline of 2011 for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

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