Posted on 09/11/2003 7:16:50 PM PDT by saquin
Biyara, controlled by militant Islamists until the US-led war, is wary of news that such groups may be returning.
By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BIYARA, IRAQ - The merchant shuddered when told that Islamic militants of Ansar Al Islam - the Al Qaeda-backed group dispersed by American bombs last March - may be returning to Iraq.
"If they come to my orchard, I will shoot them myself!" vows Shaho Abdulkarim, a merchant-smuggler with a perfect moustache. Such a visceral reaction is common in this village on Iraq's northeastern border with Iran, where Ansar imposed Taliban-style rule for nearly two years.
"They are not around, they can't come back," Mr. Abdulkarim says, sitting on the carpeted floor of the blue-domed mosque of Biyara, which was scarred by US bombs. "Then we were poor and vulnerable. Now we have someone backing us."
Biyara and a string of border villages tucked among the folds of steep mountain valleys, once ruled by Islamists, are now under the control of Kurdish militiamen of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the force that joined with US ground troops to oust Ansar last spring.
Washington accused Ansar of running a "poison" and explosives factory, and of forming a link between the Saddam Hussein regime and Al Qaeda. While evidence for such claims remains elusive, Kurds here voice nothing but praise for the US military's role in ending their nightmare of Ansar rule.
There are signs that such militants may be creeping back into Iraq, bolstered by other anti-US elements from throughout the Arab world set on attacking American troops. But the Biyara experience is one that few Iraqis are likely to tolerate again.
"What kind of life would you call this?" asks Sangar Mansour, a Biyara native who says he was forced to join Ansar in order to stay with his family.
"CDs were banned, music and songs were forbidden, picnics were banned, and you couldn't play backgammon in the tea shops," Mr. Mansour says. "We weren't allowed to wear shorts to play soccer, and whenever they called for prayers, guards visited each house with an adult. Those who failed to go, they beat him hard."
Iraqis here say they were shocked by the uncompromising views imposed by Ansar - a Wahhabi, and more radical Salafi, view shared mostly by the Taliban in Afghanistan, among some adherents from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the Persian Gulf, and by Al Qaeda.
"I know Islam, but they created very difficult choices for people," says Mansour, noting that he knew of 85 young men who lived for a time in hotels outside Biyara, to escape the restrictions. "This is totally unique. This behavior told us that they must be something else."
There are still signs of Ansar rule in this village of 450 families, or 2,000 people. Four houses perched among the green forests were completely flattened by US bombs, and reconstruction is under way. The mosque has been largely repaired, too, though the ceiling is pockmarked with shrapnel, and fresh blue paint covers the patches on the dome.
Inside the mosque, on the right of the pulpit, the word Allah, or God, was painted long ago. But the word Mohammad, the revered prophet of Islam that had been painted on the opposite side, was whitewashed by Ansar. It explained that not even Mohammad could approach God's goodness.
From the balcony pulpit a few feet above, the words of an Ansar mullah during a prayer session back then still resonate among mosque-goers: "We view the US as a small spider."
And in a further echo of Taliban attitudes - especially toward the ancient Buddha statues that were destroyed in the last year of Taliban rule in Afghanistan - Ansar militants disinterred the remains of several sheikhs buried at this mosque and moved them, resident say, so that they would not serve as a separate source of worship.
That decision provoked unrest on both sides of the border, prompting a cross-border visit by Iranian officials, to confirm that the bodies had not been destroyed.
One Ansar leader, Abu Wael - who is believed to have been on Baghdad's intelligence payroll - ran an Islamic court in this mosque, residents say. Women were fined $40 for not wearing the correct head scarf, and "nobody dared to steal" - a crime that would lead to an amputated limb, Abdulkarim says. Early on, militants killed a teacher, an event that spread fear through the village.
"They sentenced one man who collaborated with the PUK to death, and we never saw his body again," he adds. "The family searched everywhere.... In this area, they are finished. None of their leaders is from here or has a base. They were strangers here, too."
Strangers imposing their will is what grated on many locals, even if they couldn't express their unease. Mansour says he and 10 others once sneaked half a mile away - and posted two guards - to share a single cigarette. Short-sleeve shirts and T-shirts were not allowed. Barbers and their razors were out of business.
"Crazy things" included public floggings. Loudspeakers would announce a punishment, and shops would be closed, Mansour says, to ensure the largest crowd. He watched as one man, who returned drunk from the city of Sulaymaniyah , was stripped down, given 70 lashes, and told afterward to "go wash and go to prayers."
Another incident he witnessed involved a young couple who courting. The boy was stripped, laid out on a blanket, and given 70 lashes.
As a former gunman for the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Mansour was told not to wear anything yellow - the KDP colors - and was later jailed for 15 days for using yellow prayer beads.
"I had no choice - I had to join them or leave the area. I couldn't leave my family," Mansour says. Today, beer is offered for sale with kebabs, and the stifling cloud has lifted for most Kurds here.
But the hard line was not limited to Biyara residents. Abdulkarim says his wife once visited a house owned by an Ansar family, and found a woman with 13 children - and nothing whatsoever inside. She sent some cash and food to help them out.
When she asked why they lived such Spartan lives, the woman replied: "In the second life, God will reward us."
"It was obvious, even to a blind person, that these people were Al Qaeda. They referred to bin Laden as 'Sheikh' Osama," says Abdulkarim. "The people were powerless and defenseless. We couldn't do anything. Without the coalition forces, who could have rooted them out?"
The left keeps calling Bush and Powell 'liars' for claiming that Saddam had ties to terrorist groups like Ansar Al Islam... here's a direct cite of such a link!
And then this at the end
"It was obvious, even to a blind person, that these people were Al Qaeda. They referred to bin Laden as 'Sheikh' Osama," says Abdulkarim. "The people were powerless and defenseless. We couldn't do anything. Without the coalition forces, who could have rooted them out?"
Thus, the reporter has eyewitness evidence that Ansar Al Islam was connected to Al Qaeda but the reporter doesn't see fit to share that evidence until the very of the story. Why wasn't the whole story about the Al Qaeda connection. It is simply incredible how dishonest the mainstream media is.
More on Wael from previous reports:
* Sa'adoon Mohammed Abdul Latif, aka Abu-Wa'il : The suspected al Qaeda members of interest to the US include Sa'adoon Mohammed Abdul Latif, or Abu-Wa'il, an Iraqi intelligence officer who first visited Afghanistan in 1999 and is believed to be an intermediary between Osama bin Laden and Iraq's intelligence ministry. - "U.S. negotiates trade of terror suspects," By Eli J. Lake, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL via The Washington Times, May 9, 2003, http://washingtontimes.com/world/20030509-22822443.htm
* Abou Wa'el : A member of Ansar al Islam's ruling council, Abou Wa'el, has been identified by al Qaeda captives as a present or former Iraqi intelligence agent, said the sources. The sources said the group has been making ricin - the deadly toxin cops found in London when they busted an Islamic terror cell last month. But the United States has not destroyed the [Ansar al Islam] "camp," partly because communications to and from it have provided useful data on al Qaeda. - "MUCH MORE TO SADDAM-QAEDA TIE," by NILES LATHEM, New York Post , 2/07/03
* Abu Wahil : "Former" Iraqi intelligence agent and a leader of Ansar al Islam.-"Canadian man called key in Iraq terror cell Iraq terror cell links Al Qaeda, Saddam," Sandro Contenta in Sulaymania, Iraq Toronto Star NEWS; Pg. A01 February 26, 2003 Wednesday Ontario Edition (it was abridged) see also The Hamilton Spectator for the unabridged version
* Abu Wa'il : Reportedly an al-Qaeda operative on Saddam's payroll. Kurdish explosives experts also claim that TNT seized from Ansar was produced by the Iraqi military, and that arms are sent to the group from areas controlled by Saddam. Iraqi officials deny all such ties, yet Saddam clearly profits from Ansar's activities, which keep Kurdish opposition forces tied up on the border and away from Saddam. Indeed, support for Ansar is not unlike the money Saddam gives to families of Palestinian suicide bombers; turning up the heat in Kurdistan and the Palestinian territories takes heat off Saddam as a crisis looms. Currently, Kurdish and international sources are accumulating evidence they say could soon present a clearer picture of Saddam's cooperation with al-Qaeda.- "Ansar Al-Islam: Iraq's Al-Qaeda Connection, " By Jonathan Schanzer, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, via FrontPageMagazine.com , Friday, January 17, 2003 *
* Much of Ansar's stock of chemicals was smuggled in by Abu Wa-il, a former agent of the Iraqi secret service, Mukhabarat; his present whereabouts are unknown. He provided the logistics for smuggling from Saddam-controlled areas, and the funding to acquire weapons and materials, almost certainly with Baghdad's approval. - "Chemical war threat by Iraq's 'Taliban' ," By Damien McElroy in Nicosia, UK Telegraph , Filed: 12/01/2003 (jan 12, 2003)*
JUNE 2002 : (KURDS REPORT THAT IRAQI INTELLIGENCE FUNDS JUND AL ISLAM :CAPTURED IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER SAYS THE LEADING FIGURE OF JUND AL ISLAM WAS A SENIOR IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER BY THE NAME OF ABU WA'IL) Earlier this year, Kurdish media sources reported that Iraqi intelligence services are involved in guiding Jund al-Islam, through its agents, who operate secretly in the region. An Iraqi intelligence officer, who was arrested by PUK forces, and interviewed last June in a PUK prison in Suleimaniya, told “Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch” that a leading figure of Jund al-Islam was actually a senior Iraqi intelligent officer. He said, “following the fighting between the PUK and Jund al-Islam, the Mukhabarat [Iraqi intelligent Service] instructed me to search for someone. I don’t know his full name, but they said that he is called Abu Wa’il, an Iraqi national, and that he is a high-ranking officer, who belongs to our service; and that in addition to your usual mission, we want you to let us know what has happened to him, has he been able to escape, has he been killed, or has he been captured [by the Kurds] and handed over to the Americans? … Through my network I could discover that he escaped. I passed the information to the Mukhabarat. It seemed that the liaison network between Abu Wa’il and Baghdad was cut. Abu Wa’il’s case was dealt with by Mukhabarat at the highest level [in Baghdad]. His case was not like an ordinary agent getting missed … The general director of Mukhabarat was personally following the issue”. Another prisoner, a Kurdish member of Ansar al-Islam, arrested by PUK last spring, also signalled the presence of Abu Wa’il among the group. He told “Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch” that Abu Wa’il, “was a leading figure of Jund al-Islam, and was, among other missions, in charge of organizing the Afghan Arabs of the group who came from Afghanistan. As far as I know, Abu Wa’il, along with Abdullah al-Shaf’i [leader of Jund al-Islam before the merger with Mala Krekar’s group] travelled at least twice to Afghanistan”.- "Ansar al-Islam’s leader arrested - Jordan asks his extradition," Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, news, 15 September 2002
2002 : (UK TELEGRAPH REPORTS THAT REPUBLICAN GUARD WAS SPOTTED IN ANSAR AL ISLAM TOWNS BY WESTERN INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS) The Telegraph reports that members of his Republican Guard had been seen in two Ansar-run villages by Western intelligence officials on a reconnaissance mission. - "Chemical war threat by Iraq's 'Taliban' ," By Damien McElroy in Nicosia, UK Telegraph , Filed: 12/01/2003 (jan 12, 2003)
OCTOBER 2002 : (JORDAN : MURDER OF US OFFICIAL FOLEY : LINKED TO AL QAEDA / ANSAR AL ISLAM) Fazel Inzal al-Khalayleh (a.k.a. Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi) , who had sought refuge with Ansar in Iraq, . had ordered the October 2002 murder of U.S. Agency for International Development officer Laurence Foley in Amman. - "Ansar Al-Islam: Iraq's Al-Qaeda Connection, " By Jonathan Schanzer, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, via FrontPageMagazine.com , Friday, January 17, 2003
DECEMBER 2002 - JANUARY 2003 : (IRAQ : ANSAR AL-ISLAM BOASTS OF HAVING CHEMICAL WEAPONS) The group has told recent visitors to its enclave that it holds stocks of the deadly chemical agents ricin, cyanide gas and aflatoxin. Some of its weapons are what the group calls "spoils of war" - stocks captured as it has expanded the territory under its control - while others, thought to include chemical agents, have been smuggled into the enclave from Iraq, almost certainly with Saddam's blessing. Its threat last week to use this arsenal against American-led invasion forces fighting the Saddam regime could seriously disrupt the Pentagon's plan for a battle front pushing south from the Turkish border - either by direct chemical attack on American troops or by diverting Kurdish fighters, hostile to the Iraqi dictator, into a backyard battle against an Islamic enemy. Kurdish officials say that Ansar is experimenting with chemical weapons on animals and humans. - "Chemical war threat by Iraq's 'Taliban' ," By Damien McElroy in Nicosia, UK Telegraph , Filed: 12/01/2003 (jan 12, 2003)
FEBRUARY 5, 2003 : (AT UN, POWELL CITES ANSAR AL ISLAM AS LINK BETWEEN HUSSEIN REGIME & AL QAEDA) Secretary of State Colin L. Powell cited Ansar al-Islam as a link between Saddam Hussein and bin Laden on Feb. 5 in a speech indicting Iraq before the U.N. Security Council. - "U.S. negotiates trade of terror suspects," By Eli J. Lake, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL via The Washington Times, May 9, 2003, http://washingtontimes.com/world/20030509-22822443.htm
MARCH 22, 2003 : (OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM : US BOMBS AL ANSAR CAMP, LATIF aka WA'IL & AFGHANI ESCAPE TO IRAN) Both men (Sa'adoon Mohammed Abdul Latif, aka Abu-Wa'il & Ayub Afghani) escaped to Iran after U.S. planes bombed the Ansar al-Islam encampment in Biyara on March 22. While the Iranians allowed some of the Ansar fighters to return to Iraq after Kurdish peshmerga fighters overran the camp, senior leaders associated with the group remain in Iran, U.S. and Kurdish officials say. - "U.S. negotiates trade of terror suspects," By Eli J. Lake, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL via The Washington Times, May 9, 2003, http://washingtontimes.com/world/20030509-22822443.htm
AFTENPOSTEN.no (English): "KREKAR EXPECTS TERRORIST ATTACKS" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Mullah Krekar believes the group Ansar al-Islam, which he has led in the past, will retaliate violently to what they see as an unmotivated attack on them, TV 2 reports. The US civil administrator claimed that members of the north Iraq based group had returned to Iraq, planning terrorist actions.") (Read More...) (August 11, 2003)
you mean AlQaeda was present in Iraq before we invaded?
CALLING HOWARD DEAN CALLING HOWARD DEAN. CALL YOUR OFFICE...
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