who are we fighting again?

Six Iraqi insurgent groups took a step towards unifying the factions fighting the US yesterday by announcing the creation of a political umbrella organisation.

A spokesman for the new alliance, his face blacked out, made the announcement on a video broadcast by al-Jazeera. He described the alliance as "the political council of the Iraqi resistance".

The six Sunni groups have been in discussion about the move for months. The aim is to reduce the fragmented nature of the insurgency but also to try to claim a slice of the political agenda after the expected US withdrawal.
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In a lengthy statement published yesterday, the six groups listed a 14-point political programme, of which the first was continued action against US forces. "The occupation of Iraq is an act of aggression and an act of gross injustice which is rejected Islamically, legally and rationally, and which all laws grant the right to oppose and resist," it said.
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The six groups are opposed to al-Qaida in Iraq, which has been behind some of the most spectacular and bloodiest attacks, often on civilians, tactics that have alienated large swaths of the Iraq population. The main reason for the partial success of the US deals with local leaders, initially in Anbar province, is hostility towards al-Qaida.

The six groups in the alliance are the Islamic Army in Iraq, the al-Mujahideen Army, Ansar al-Sunna, al-Fatiheen Army, the Islamic Front for the Iraqi Resistance (Jami), and Iraqi Hamas.
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The new political alliance does not recognise the government led by Nuri al-Maliki. In its 14-point plan it says that all laws and treaties agreed under the occupation would be rescinded. The statement also claimed that the country would not be ruled by a "single element" that represented any ethnic or sectarian interest, presumably a reference to the Shia Muslim-dominated government.

Sunni insurgents form alliance against US
12 October 2007
Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian


See also:

Six Iraqi groups team up to drive Americans out
12 October 2007, The Daily Star

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