Patrick Cockburn of Britain's Independent reports on the philosophy of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, flush from their successes in taking Mosul and other Sunni towns in Iraq. I was unable to locate the full text of Abu Mohammed al-Adnani's statement, parsed below by Cockburn, but the overall drift is apparent from Cockburn's summary.
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The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) is itself
amazed by its spectacular victories this week, but vows to press on to Baghdad
and the holy Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf. Its spokesman says that “enemies
and supporters alike are flabbergasted” by its triumphs that he attributes to
divine intervention.
He calls on Isis fighters, who have captured Mosul, Tikrit
and a string of other towns not become arrogant but behave modestly. “Be warned
and do not fall prey to your vanities and egos,” says Isis spokesman, Abu
Mohammed al-Adnani. “Do not let your egos fall prey to your recent military
gains such as the Humvees, helicopters, rifles and military equipment.”
The speech is interesting and significant because Adnani
gives the first insight into how Isis views its spectacular territorial gains
as well as its intentions in the immediate future. Ominously, he stresses
hatred for the Shia, who make up 60 per cent of Iraq’s population, as apostates
with whom no compromise is possible, saying it is “the Lord alone who
overpowers the Shia. Praise be the Lord who brings terror to their hearts.”
The sectarian denunciations of the Shia are important
because they imply that Iraq will be plunged into a renewed sectarian war
between Sunni and Shia. There is a warning against any faltering in the present
advance: “Do not concede territory gained to the Shia unless they walk over
your dead bodies to retrieve it.
“March towards Baghdad. Do not let them [the Shia] breath.”
This is bound to create a counter-reaction among the Shia
who are suddenly struggling to preserve the predominance they won in Iraq after
the US-led invasion of 2003 overthrew Saddam Hussein and the centuries-old rule
of the Sunni minority. The army having failed them, they will fall back on mobilising
militias that will hold back the Isis advance. There could be a return to
sectarian massacres that killed tens of thousands of Shia and Sunni, mostly in
and around Baghdad, in 2006 and 2007.
Adnani is derisive about “the Fool of the Shia. Nouri [al-Maliki]:
Look at what you have done with your people, fool! You were always an underwear
merchant! … Your people could have reigned supreme over Iraq, but you made them
lose that opportunity. Even the Shia will curse you now.” This analysis, though rhetorical, is probably
correct and many Shia today blame Mr Maliki’s leadership for the disasters that
face them.
In contrast with Isis’s bloodthirsty threats against the
Shia, Adnani recommends fighters to behave moderately against Sunni, even those
who may previously have fought on the government side. He says: “Accept
repentance and recantations from those who are sincere, and do not bother those
who do not bother you, and forgive your Sunni folk, and be gentle with your
tribes.”
Overall, there is a strong sense that Isis did not expect
such a swift victory, recalling that only recently they had been subjected to
“imprisonment, torture, military raids”. Their houses had been occupied and
they had had to take refuge “in the mountains, in underground bunkers, in
valleys, and in the expanse of the desert.” The flight of 30,000 Iraqi army
troops and police from Mosul in the face of 1,300 or so of their fighters seems
to have caught the Isis leadership by surprise much as it did the rest of the
world.
Again and again the
speaker spits out sectarian hatred of the Shia and it is this which is most
alarming for the future. “The Shia are a disgraced people,” he says, accusing
them of being polytheists “who worship the dead and stone.” The new war in Iraq
could be even more savage than the horrors that went before.
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Patrick Cockburn, "Iraq crisis: 'Do not fall prey to your vanities'--the philosophy of the country's new conquerors," The Independent, June 12, 2014
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