AL-DOURI'S SUNNI INSURGENT COALITION

The Sunni insurgency continues to fracture as US and Iraqi forces are on the offensive in central and northern Iraq. Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, the most wanted Baathist and leader in the Sunni insurgency, has formed a new insurgent front that is willing to negotiate, while a faction of the 1920s Revolution Brigades openly denounced al Qaeda.

A grouping of 22 Sunni insurgent groups have “convened a Unification Congress in a liberated neighborhood in Baghdad” and formed the Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation. The front appointed al Douri its leader. The announcement, posted on the Baathist website albasrah.net, lists the 22 insurgent groups, as well as the terms and conditions of negotiations.

The Command stated that for any negotiations to take place, the Americans must:

1. Officially recognize the patriotic Resistance and all the patriotic, Arab nationalist, and Islamist Resistance organizations in all their armed and civil organizations as the sole legitimate representative of Iraq and its great people.

2. Officially announce an unconditional withdrawal from Iraq – whether that be immediate or in short stages.

3. Halt raids, pursuits, killings, destruction, sabotage, dispossessions, and expulsions and withdraw the occupation troops from all population centers.

4. Free all prisoners and detainees without exception and compensate them for their losses.

5. Return to service the Iraqi Army and national security forces, which were declared dissolved by the Americans during their invasion in 2003. They are to be restored in keeping with the rules and traditions that were in force before the American invasion and they must also be compensated for their losses.

6. Pledge to compensate Iraq for all the material and moral losses and injuries caused the country by the occupation.

7. Cancel all laws, decrees, and other pieces of legislation issued after the occupation.

8. Hold direct talks with the Resistance on implementing a program to fulfill the principles adhered to by the Supreme Command if the Americans want to have save face. Otherwise the Americans will simply have to leave in defeat.

In addition the Command said that meetings must be held on the re-establishment of a government, adding that one-man rule was being done away with and replaced with system based on Islamic democratic principles as distinct from the imperialist democracy that is notorious for its practice of self-serving double standards.
The Sunni insurgent groups were listed as follows:

1. The Army of the Men of the Naqshbandiyah Order.
2. The Army of the Prophet’s Companions.
3. The Army of the Murabiteen.
4. The Army of al-Hamzah.
5. The Army of the Message.
6. The Army of Ibn al-Walid.
7. The United Command of the Mujahideen (Iraq).
8. The Liberation Brigades.
9. The Army of al-Mustafa.
10. The Army of the Liberation of Iraq.
11. Squadrons of the Martyrs.
12. The Army of the Sabireen.
13. The Brigades of the Jihad in the Land of the Two Rivers.
14. The army of the Knight for the Liberation of the [Kurdish] Self-Rule Area.
15. Squadrons of the Jihad in al-Basrah.
16. Jihadist Squadrons of al-Fallujah.
17. The Patriotic Popular Front for the Liberation of Iraq.
18. The Squatrons of the Husayni Revolution of at-Taff.
19. Squadrons of the Liberation of the South.
20. Army of Haneen.
21. Squadrons of Diyala for Jihad and Liberation.
22. The Squadrons of Glory for the Liberation of Iraq.