Is There a Link Between the 5 Traded Terrorists and the Potential Fall of Baghdad?
On the heels of the G7 Summit and the Third Annual EU-LAS (League of Arab State) Foreign Affairs Ministerial Meeting, news of rising insurgency in Iraq has dominated international headlines. Iraqi Ambassador to France, Fareed Yasseen, called on the international community for support saying “This is serious…not only for Iraq [and Syria] but for the entire region.” In addition, Iraq’s top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, made a call to arms stating that all abled bodied persons needed to fight.
It has been nearly two years since the last official US ground troops withdrew from Iraq, and today news and intel told of high risk to the capital of Baghdad. In a press briefing early this week the White House stated that all options were on the table in assisting Iraq. Today, President Obama made it abundantly clear that the use of ground troops is not an option. He spoke in a tone that underscored the possibility that he believes a part of the problem is Iraq’s military and police unwillingness to engage in fights against the insurgents, saying “they [the insurgents] are tough but not unbeatable.”
Though Iraq is dealing with the political issue of forming a coalition government in the capital of Baghdad, the most pressing issue is the rapid growth of the ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). The ISIL is the main group of insurgents that have thrown the country into chaos. They are also one of the groups responsible to the continued civil war in Syria. The ISIL (or ISIS) is listed as a jihadist group formed out of the Wahhabi movement to participate in the Iraq war, the Global War on Terror, and the Syrian civil war. They also have reportedly close ties to al Qaeda, some of which indicate that the groups are one in the same. In June of last year the ISIL leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, released a statement in which he clearly stated his intention to “erase the Western imposed border [between Iraq and] Syria” and to “tear apart the governments of both countries and their regional backers.”* Last year seven thousand Iraqis died in insurgent attacks, the majority of which have been traced to the ISIL and/or al Qaeda. In November there were 50 suicide attacks alone, and the numbers are only worsening as the ISIL grows stronger and continues to obtain weapons through the black market.
The link to the Wahhabi movement is interesting. Qatar is home to a majority of Wahhabis in the world, and the White House just handed five Taliban leaders (with ties to terrorism) over to them. Is it possible that there is a link between the trade of terrorists and the potential fall of Baghdad? While citizens ponder this possibility, the international community is scrambling to form a response to an instability that will no doubt inflame the entire region.
*”Key Fact About the Group Wreaking Havoc in Iraq.” Cassandra Vinograd. 12 June 2020. http://www.cnbc.com/id/101754642
Photo courtesy of Front Page Magazine.
