Good Sunni, Bad Sunni: Iraq's ISI Gets to Pick and Choose

The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) issued a statement today congratulating the assassins who killed Iraq’s Ayfan Saadoun Al-Issawi. He was an early member of the Awakening Council of Sunnis formed in 2006 to help U.S. troops attack al-Qaeda members in Iraq. These fighters, known as the Sahwa, have frequently been targeted by al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQ) was established in April 2004. More recently they have been issuing press releases as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a close associate of Osama bin Laden, started this gang. They’ve been killing innocent Iraqis ever since. Today’s ISI statement lauded the killers “for plucking the head of the dog of the Americans”, referring back to the 2006 Sahwa alliance with U.S. forces in an attempt to squash al-Qaeda in Iraq’s Anbar Province.

The press release also noted that ISI are “with the demonstrators against the secular Maliki regime.”

So the ISI claims to support the mainly Sunni demonstrators because they are against al-Maliki and at the same time kills al-Issawi because he is a Sunni who resisted al-Qaeda. This conveniently ignores the fact that he was a leader in the main bloc in opposition to al-Maliki’s administration, on his way to support the demonstrators.

Once again, al-Qaeda masks revenge with a popular idea of the moment, trying to convince the public that they are on their side. We hope the Iraqi people have finally awakened to ISI’s propaganda.

January 22, 2013 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact