Eight Chinese workers from Fujian, who were travelling to Jordan from Najaf in Iraq by a car after having worked in a Chinese-aided power project there for catching a flight to China, were detained by an Iraqi resistance group on January 18,2005, to protest against the Chinese involvement in the project.
There is so far no reason to believe that this was an instance of targetted kidnapping by the resistance fighters. It would seem that the kidnappers ran into the Chinese workers as they were travelling by a car to Jordan, questioned them and detained them after finding out that they were working in a Chinese-aided project in Najaf.
A statement with a video picture of the hostages released by the resistance group the next day said: "We have taken these individuals hostage as they were trying to leave Iraq.After interrogating them, we learned that they are Chinese working for a Chinese contracting company in Iraq. This company is
carrying out the task of rebuilding one of the American bases.We call upon the Chinese Government to issue a statement saying they would not allow their citizens to help their enemy, the Americans." The statement warned that the hostages would face death unless and until Beijing "clarified" its role in Iraq within 48 hours. Thus, apart from a demand for a clarificatory statement from the Chinese Government and an assurance of non-involvement of its citizens in future in helping the US occupation forces in Iraq, the kidnappers have not put forward any other demand---at least openly.
The video recording showed the Chinese holding up their passports. There were no indications of any humiliation of the hostages such as forcing them to wear orange-coloured clothes similar to those worn by the American-held detenus in the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
While a Chinese Government spokesman claimed that the men had gone to Iraq individually in search of work and, having failed, were travelling by car to Jordan in order to return home, the official Xinhua news agency quoted sources as saying that the men had been working in a Chinese project to rebuild a factory in Najaf - a project which Xinhua said had nothing to do with the US-led multinational forces. According to Iraqi sources, they were working in a power station which was being repaired by the Chinese company employing them.
The Chinese Government spokesman said that the Chinese Government had always placed emphasis on the protection of the interests of the Iraqi people and added: "The Chinese people have always cherished friendly feelings towards the Iraqi people and sympathised and supported them."
The kidnapping came three weeks after a visit to Beijing by Hoshiar A.Zibari, the Foreign Minister of the Iraqi interim Government, in the last week of December,2004, for talks with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing. During the visit, the Chinese Foreign Minister was quoted as saying that China attached great importance to developing its relations with Iraq, and was willing to promote bilateral friendly cooperation. He added that China closely followed the situation in Iraq, and the attempts to maintain Iraq's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. He said that China hoped Iraq would set up a widely representative government through a general election, and continuously push forward its political reconstruction. After the talks, the two sides exchanged letters on China's assistance for Iraq's general election.
China had pledged US$25 million of humanitarian assistance to Iraq in October,2003, in addition to reportedly promising that the Chinese enterprises would play an active role in the reconstruction of Iraq. It is, however, not known whether Chinese workers are employed in any other project in addition to the Najaf power project in which the eight kidnapped Chinese were reportedly working.
The Chinese authorities seem to make a distinction between assistance to the reconstruction projects of the interim Government which would benefit the Iraqi people and not the American occupiers and to projects associated with the American occupation. The terrorists and resistance fighters do not accept such distinction and apparently want that Chinese workers should not work in any project in Iraq till the US occupation ends.
In April last year too, an unidentified Iraqi group had kidnapped seven Chinese farm labourers, also from Fujian, who were travelling from Mosul to Falluja. The Chinese authorities had claimed that those workers had gone to Iraq on their own in search of jobs. All of them were released unharmed.
The responsibility for the present kidnapping has been claimed by an organisation calling itself the "Islamic Resistance Movement - Al-Numan (also written as Al-Noaman) Brigade". The same group had kidnapped in September last year a Turkish truck driver and demanded that all operations of Turkish companies in support of the US occupation troops should stop. He was subsequently released. Nothing much is known about the leadership of this group and its past background.
A communique issued on December 10,2004, by what was described as the media platoon of the Islamic Jihad Army of the Resistance Movement said: "People of the world! These words come to you from those who up to the day of the invasion were struggling to survive under the sanctions imposed by the criminal regimes of the U.S. and Britain We are simple people who chose principles over fear. We have suffered crimes and sanctions, which we consider the true weapons of mass destruction. Years and years of agony and despair, while the condemned UN traded with our oil revenues in the name of world stability and peace. Over two million innocents died waiting for a light at the end of a tunnel that only ended with the occupation of our country and the theft of our resources. After the crimes of the administrations of the U.S and Britain in Iraq , we have chosen our future. The future of every resistance struggle ever in the history of man. It is our duty, as well as our right, to fight back the occupying forces, for which their nations will be held morally and economically responsible; for what their elected governments have destroyed and stolen from our land. We have not crossed the oceans and seas to occupy Britain or the U.S. nor are we responsible for 9/11.
These are only a few of the lies that these criminals present to cover their true plans for the control of the energy resources of the world, in face of a growing China and a strong unified Europe . It is ironic that the Iraqis are to bear the full force of this large and growing conflict on behalf of the rest of this sleeping world. Stop using the U.S. dollar, use the Euro or a basket of currencies. Reduce or halt your consumption of British and U.S. products. Put an end to Zionism before it ends the world. Educate those in doubt of the true nature of this conflict and do not believe their media, for their casualties are far higher than they admit. We only wish we had more cameras to show the world their true defeat. The enemy is on the run. They are in fear of a resistance movement they cannot see nor predict.
We now choose when, where, and how to strike. And as our ancestors drew the first sparks of civilization, we will redefine the word "conquest". Today we write a new chapter in the art of urban warfare.
Know that by helping the Iraqi people you are helping yourselves, for tomorrow may bring the same destruction to you. Helping the Iraqi people does not mean dealing with the Americans for a few contracts here and there. You must continue to isolate their strategy. This conflict is no longer considered a localized war. We will pin them here in Iraq to drain their resources, manpower, and their will to fight. We will make them spend as much as they steal, if not more. We will disrupt, then halt the flow of our stolen oil, thus, rendering their plans useless. "
A perusal of the communique and the moderate language free of rhetoric used in it would indicate that this movement may have more to do with the Sunni resistance fighters than with the foreign terrorists allied with Al Qaeda, the language of whose communiques are very strong and try to incite acts of terrorism.
A joint article titled "An Inventory of Iraqi Resistance Groups" written by two Iraqi journalists by name Samir Haddad and Mazin Ghazi and published on September 19,2004, in a Baghdad Arabic weekly journal called "Al-Zawra" of the Iraqi Journalists Association had categorised the various resistance and terrorist groups active in Iraq as follows:
SUNNI GROUPS FIGHTING TO END THE US-LED OCCUPATION, BUT NOT NECESSARILY FOR THE RETURN OF THE BAATHIST REGIME LED BY SADDAM HUSSEIN:
The Iraqi National Islamic Resistance, "The 1920 Revolution Brigades:" It came to notice for the first time on July 16, 2003. It describes its aim as to establish a liberated and independent Iraqi state on Islamic basis. It has been active in the area west of Baghdad, in the regions of Abu-Ghurayb, Khan Dari, and Al-Fallujah and in the governorates of Ninwi, Diyali, and Al-Anbar. Its statements claiming responsibility for its operations are usually distributed at the gates of mosques as people come out after prayers. Among the successful operations for which it claimed responsibility last year were the shooting-down of an American helicopter in the Abu-Ghuryab region on August 1,2004, by its Al-Zubayr Bin-al-Awwam Brigade and the shooting-down of a Chintook helicopter in the Al-Nu'aymiyah region, near Al-Fallujah, by the Martyr Nur-al-Din Brigade on August 9,2004.
The National Front for the Liberation of Iraq consisting of 10 resistance groups.It started operating almost immediately after the occupation of Baghdad by the Americans in April,2003, as if its members had been trained and briefed on how to operate against the Americans long before the US-led invasion of Iraq.Its activities show that what was projected by the US as the disintegration of Saddam's Army was actually a well-planned and well-executed withering away of the Army in order to be able to operate as a guerilla force of a myriad secret cells against the occupying troops. According to the two Iraqi journalists, it consists of nationalists and Islamists. It has been active in Arbil and Karkuk in northern Iraq; in Al-Fallujah, Samarra, and Tikrit in central Iraq, in the Basra and Babil Governorates in the south and in the Diyali Governorate in the east.
However, according to the journalists, it has not been as successful in its operations as the 1920 Revolution Brigades. The Iraqi Resistance Islamic Front, 'JAMI'. Came to notice for the first time on May 30,2004. Claims to be fighting against the American occupiers and Jewish conspiracies in Iraq. Mainly active in the governorates of Ninwi and Diyali. According to statements issued by the front, JAMI's military wings called the Salah-al-Din and
Sayf-Allah al-Maslul Brigades had carried out dozens of operations against the US occupation forces. Among the operations for which it has claimed credit are the shelling of the occupation command headquarters and the semi-daily shelling of the Mosul airport. According to the Iraqi journalists, it targets the members of the US intelligence and has killed many of them in the Al-Faysaliyah area in Mosul and also in the governorate of Diyali, where the front's Al-Rantisi Brigade sniped a US soldier and used mortars to shell Al-Faris Airport.
Other small factions whose activities are sporadic.Examples: (1). The Hamzah Faction: A Sunni group that appeared for the first time on October 10, 2003 in Al-Fallujah and called for the release of a local sheikh known as Sheikh Jamal Nidal, who was arrested by the US forces; (2). the Iraqi Liberation Army: Came to notice on July 15, 2003. It warned foreign countries against sending troops to Iraq and threatened to attack them; (3). The Awakening and Holy War Group:: It has been active in Al-Fallujah. It filmed an operation on videotape and sent the tape to the Iranian television on July 7, 2003. On the tape, it described Saddam and the US as the two sides of the same coin; (4).the White Banners: It too was critical of Saddam as well as the US. It claimed to be operating in association with two other groups calling themselves the Muslim Youths and Muhammad's Army.
Surprisingly, it criticized the bombing of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad for reasons, which were not clear; (5).Al-Haqq Army: It is also critical of the US as well as of Saddam.
BAATHIST ORGANISATIONS FIGHTING FOR THE RETURN OF THE BAATHIST REGIME
They do not carry out any military operations of their own. Instead, they provide support services to other Sunni groups such as supply of funds and arms and ammunition, sanctuaries etc. Examples: (1).Al-Awdah (The Return): It is active in northern Iraq -- Samarra, Tikrit, Al-Dur, and Mosul. It reportedly consists of members of the former intelligence apparatus; (2).Saddam's Fedayeen: No longer active. Its members are reported to have joined other groups like the 11 September Revolutionary Group and the Serpent's Head Movement.
SHIA ORGANISATIONS OPPOSING US OCCUPATION
The Al-Mahdi Army of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, which has not been active of late. The Imam Ali Bin-Abi-Talib Jihadi Brigade: This group appeared for the first time on October 12, 2003. It threatened to carry out militant operations against countries sending troops to Iraq to assist the US troops. It also threatened to assassinate all the members of the Interim Governing Council and any Iraqi cooperating with the coalition forces. It also announced that Al-Najaf and Karbala were the battlegrounds in which it would target the US forces. Not very active. More rhetoric than action. GROUPS WHICH FOCUS ON KIDNAPPINGS
The more active of these groups are: (1).The Assadullah Brigade. Among its prominent operations of 2004 was the kidnapping of Muhammad Mamduh
Hilmi Qutb, an Egyptian diplomat, in July 2004 in protest against an Egyptian Government offer of security training facilities to the interim Iraqi Government. Released after a week. (2). The Islamic Retaliation Movement.It kidnapped a US Marine of Lebanese origin, Wasif Ali Hassun, on July 19, 2004, and then released him. There has since been some doubt about the genuineness of this kidnapping and this organisation. There have been allegations that the Marine had stage-managed his own kidnapping. (3).The Islamic Anger Brigade: It kidnapped 15 Lebanese allegedly working for the Americans in June 2004, killed one of them and released the others. (4). The Khalid-Bin-al-Walid Brigade and the Iraqi Martyrs' Brigade: They are
believed to be the ones who kidnapped Italian journalist Enzo Bladoni in August 2004 and killed him. (5). The Black Banner Group of the Secret Islamic Army. It kidnapped three Indians, two Kenyans, and an Egyptian working for a Kuwaiti company operating in Iraq. The aim was to compel the company to stop its activities in Iraq. The hostageswere later released.
PRO-AL QAEDA GROUPS LARGELY CONSISTING OF FOREIGNERS AND LED BY FOREIGNERS, WHICH INDULGE IN ACTS OF TERRORISM NOT ONLY AGAINST AMERICAN TROOPS, BUT ALSO AGAINST IRAQIS COLLABORATING WITH THEM
The Al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad Group. Led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian. It is now called Qaeda't Al Jihad. It identifies itself as the Al Qaeda of Iraq. Believed to have been responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Nicholas Berg, an American national, in May,2004. It also kidnapped and killed a South Korean Kim Il, working for a South Korean Company, under contract with the US Army in Iraq. The Islamic Army in Iraq. It kidnapped the Iranian Consul in Baghdad Feredion Jahani and two French journalists, Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot. They were subsequently released.
The Jaish Ansar al-Sunnah. It kidnapped 12 Nepalese on August 23, 2004 and subsequently killed them and reportedly organised the suicide attack inside the improvised dining hall of American troops in Mosul in December,2004. Led by another Jordanian by name Abu Abdullah al-Hassan Bin-Mahmud.
The total number of hostages killed so far is: two Italians, two US nationals, two Pakistanis, one Egyptian, one Turk, one Lebanese, one Bulgarian, one South Korean, and 12 Nepalese.
The two Iraqi journalists wrote of the indigenous resistance groups not associated with pro-Al Qaeda terrorist organisations as follows : "After the fall of Baghdad into the hands of the Anglo-American occupation on 9 April 2003, as a natural reaction, several sectors of Iraqi society confronted the occupation. Resistance cells were formed, the majority of which were of Islamic Sunni and pan-Arab tendencies. These cells started in the shape of scattered groups, without a unifying bond to bind them together. These groups and small cells started to grow gradually, until they matured to some extent and acquired a clear personality that had its own political and military weight. Then they started combining themselves into larger groups. The
majority of these groups do not know their leadership, the sources of their financing, or who provides them with weapons. However, the large
number of weapons, which the Saddam Hussain regime left behind, are undoubtedly one of the main sources for arming these groups.
Their intellectual tendencies are usually described as a mixture of Islamic and pan-Arab ideas that agree on the need to put an end to the US presence in Iraq."
An analysis of the various incidents in Iraq last year would indicate that while most of the targetted attacks with hand-held weapons, mortars, explosives etc on the American and other coalition troops were apparently carried out by the Iraqi resistance groups, most of the suicide attacks, which targetted Iraqi policemen, national guards and other Government servants collaborating with the Americans were carried out by the pro-Al Qaeda terrorist organisations.
Are the two co-operating presently? If so, is there a common command and control? Possibly yes, but the evidence is not yet conclusive. (20-1-05)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt.of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai, and, Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai Chapter. E-mail:
[email protected] )
* Views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Observer Research Foundation.
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