NYTimes: "The Ever-Mutating Iraq Insurgency"
By Evan Kohlmann
Building upon my recent report discussing the evolving infrastructure of Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq, the New York Times has graciously produced their own representation of my findings in today's Week In Review section.
"In the last three months, as Americans debated military options in Iraq, the Sunni insurgency there seemed to grow more extreme. A network of some of the fiercest fighters, dominated by Al Qaeda in Iraq, forged formal new alliances with several rebel groups and may have begun to draw others into its orbit, according to Evan F. Kohlmann... Until 2006, Mr. Kohlmann said, the Qaeda group was 'essentially losing' in Iraq... All that changed in February, when Al Qaeda in Iraq blew up with Askariya Mosque in Samarra, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines. 'That event opened the door to bloodletting between Sunnis and Shiites,' Mr. Kohlmann said, which was the intent... The Samarra bombing was followed by months of violent reprisals by Shiites against Sunnis. Al Qaeda in Iraq, virulently anti-Shiite, became a refuge for aggrieved and beleaguered Sunnis..."
Click to view "The Ever-Mutating Iraq Insurgency" from the NY Times
See also: (April 2006) - "Countering the New Dayton: A Shift in Strategy for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi"