Friday, December 01, 2006
Al-Qaeda in Iraq lashes out at Iraqi Sunni politicians
Insurgency, Politics
Al-Qaida in Iraq on Thursday denounced Iraqi Sunni politicians who met recently with Jordan's King Abdullah II, calling them and the monarch "traitors." The statement, posted on an Islamic militant Web site, did not mention a summit Thursday between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Bush. Both leaders met separately with King Abdullah before their talks in Amman, Jordan.
Instead, al-Qaida in Iraq - the country's most feared Sunni Muslim militant group - lashed out at a string of Iraqi Sunni Arab politicians who held talks with Abdullah ahead of the summit. "The traitors of Jordan's meetings, whether they know it or not, have entered today in a pact with Satan to fight the men of God," al-Qaida in Iraq said in its statement. The authenticity of the statement could not be confirmed. It was posted on a Web forum often used to issue militant statements and was signed by the "Islamic state in Iraq," the so-called Islamic government that the group declared earlier this year and that now issues all its messages.
Al-Qaida has long demonized the U.S.-allied Jordanian monarch and in the past has targeted Iraqi Sunnis it sees as cooperating with the Shiite-led Iraqi government or the United States. The statement called on "the lions and free men of Jordan" to prepare themselves to confront the king. Abdullah met earlier this week in Amman with Harith al-Dhari, head of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, a hardline Sunni Arab group known to have links to some factions within Iraq's 3-year-old Sunni-led insurgency. The king also met with Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and Iraq's most powerful Shiite politician, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim.
Instead, al-Qaida in Iraq - the country's most feared Sunni Muslim militant group - lashed out at a string of Iraqi Sunni Arab politicians who held talks with Abdullah ahead of the summit. "The traitors of Jordan's meetings, whether they know it or not, have entered today in a pact with Satan to fight the men of God," al-Qaida in Iraq said in its statement. The authenticity of the statement could not be confirmed. It was posted on a Web forum often used to issue militant statements and was signed by the "Islamic state in Iraq," the so-called Islamic government that the group declared earlier this year and that now issues all its messages.
Al-Qaida has long demonized the U.S.-allied Jordanian monarch and in the past has targeted Iraqi Sunnis it sees as cooperating with the Shiite-led Iraqi government or the United States. The statement called on "the lions and free men of Jordan" to prepare themselves to confront the king. Abdullah met earlier this week in Amman with Harith al-Dhari, head of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, a hardline Sunni Arab group known to have links to some factions within Iraq's 3-year-old Sunni-led insurgency. The king also met with Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and Iraq's most powerful Shiite politician, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim.
