Riyadh, Jan 8, 2008 (VOI) – A Sunni cleric said there was a "similarity" between the actions of the al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq and those of the tribal Sahwa (Awakening) Councils, warning that the marginalization of Iraq would cause other countries to become marginalized.

"Many of those who have joined the Sahwa Councils have been members in al-Qaeda. They joined al-Qaeda in the first place for the sake of money, and when more money became available in a different direction, they rushed to it," Sheikh Harith al-Dari, the head of the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), said in an interview with the al-Hayat International newspaper's Saudi edition in Riyadh, published on Tuesday.

Dari, whose AMS represents a large sector of Arab Sunnis in Iraq and rejects the current political process in the country, said there were Sunni politicians, who are part of the political process, involved in these Sahwa Councils.
Iraq has witnessed in the year 2007 the emergence of armed organizations set up by tribes in most hotspots in the country with the aim of fighting al-Qaeda network operatives in those areas.

It all started in September 2006 with the formation of al-Anbar Awakening Council, which managed to flush al-Qaeda out of the predominantly Sunni province, once considered one of the tensest in Iraq.

Dari, during the interview published over two episodes, said it is true that al-Qaeda has been involved in unacceptable activities with the residents of the region where it existed, but the Sahwa Councils are doing just the same: blackmailing and intimidation.

"Iraq is a part of the Arab nation that came under a serious conspiracy that cut Iraq from its big nation," Dari said, adding "the enemies of Iraq wanted to have a model to be cloned in other areas."

He said there were parties that would benefit from the division of Iraq, a gouge of balance between Arabs and Iran on one hand and Arabs and Israel on the other.
Dari accused the former U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, of "enfeebling Iraq as he was in charge of the opposition file in coordination with Iran."

"The chess pawns offered themselves to cooperate with the occupation forces using the sectarian quota card," Dari said.

AE/SR