Haider Shaghati/Iraq Counter Terrorism Office/Director of Public Relations
Although often mistaken for one another, terrorists and insurgency groups are not the same. Each group has a different agenda and goals. Insurgency groups are typically open to reconciliation and negotiation, whereas terrorist groups commit mass murders in the population to undermine governments. Insurgent groups usually avoid attacking innocents and seek popular support. Terrorists use intimidation and murder to frighten people and use them as human shields. Unlike insurgents, terrorists have little or no remorse for claiming innocent lives and misinterpret religion to justify their crimes. Therefore, the government must have a plan to identify each group and deal with each accordingly.
The insurgents’ strategy is to use force against the government as a response to grievances with the hope of gaining political benefits. But in doing so they pay more attention to the concerns of local citizens. They use popular anger to seek support and legitimacy. But al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) and currently Da’ish are committing massacres against local citizens who already felt marginalized by the government. It is worth mentioning that the majority of Sunni Muslims oppose Da’ish ideology and consider it a distortion of pure Islam. While Da’ish and AQI claim that they are the defenders of the Sunnis, they kill more Sunnis and have no respect for human life.
Unfortunately, the lack of trust between the former Iraqi government and the Sunni population led to terrible mistakes. When an insurgency began to form, the government, making no effort to reach out to these people, portrayed them as terrorists, which resulted in an alliance between insurgents and terrorists. However, the “surge” operation conducted by U.S. forces in 2007 and the establishment of the awakening in Anbar province were milestones in the process of separating insurgents from terrorists. The success of the awakening in Sunni areas provides strong evidence that insurgents represent a faction of the Iraqi population that feel marginalized, whereas terrorists organize with the goal of murdering Iraqis and destabilizing the nation.
The Iraqi case is very complicated, and any political miscalculation could derail progress. In fact, the former government crackdown on Sunni political leaders caused distrust and fear among the Sunni populace, including the former insurgents who had laid down their arms during the Anbar awakening. Unfortunately, that mistake created an environment favorable to terrorists. The invasion of Da’ish created confusion and division among Sunnis. Many leaders of the awakening realized the danger of Da’ish, stopped their demonstrations and joined the government by turning their weapons against the terrorists. Others lost trust in the government and decided not to fight Da’ish.
The new Iraqi government of September 2014, established with a national consensus, sends a strong message to the Sunni populace that the new government will listen to their grievances and will take care of them. It is critical that the Iraqi government reach out to citizens in the Sunni areas, build confidence and trust, and implement reforms to win over those who still have doubts. I believe the new government is on the right track and will bring national unity to the Iraqi people by rejecting any kind of discrimination.
Furthermore, the Iraqi government must approach volunteers from among citizens who bear arms to defend their nation, vet them carefully and integrate them with Sunni tribal forces to create an organized and disciplined paramilitary force that supports the Iraqi Army and strengthens national unity.