Progress In Iraq...

The military command in Iraq released a diary captured recently – the diary of an Al Qaeda leader (“emir”). Though heavily redacted, it still contains some remarkable information:

In the Name of Allah the Most Merciful the Most CompassionateDate: Third of Shawaal of 1428 Hijri (H) [ 15 OCT 2007]Islamic GreetingsThis is My Will:

I am Abu-Tariq, Emir of Al-Layin and al-Mashadah Sector.

There were almost 600 fighters in our Sector before the Tribes changed course 360 degrees under the influence of the so-called Islamic Army (Deserter of Jihad) and other known believer groups. Many of our fighters quit and some of them joined the deserters, and later on I will mention the names of Fighters who stood by us (faithful fighters), but things started getting worse ever since, and as a result of that the number of fighters dropped down to 20 or less which led us to move some of our vehicles to another location (Al-Muthanna Establishment Area) for security reasons where our brother [REDACTED] is stationed at (I will also mention the type vehicles at the end.)

There are many details known by brothers [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] regarding the spoils, buying and selling vehicles such as:

1-Lorry (6-wheeled) in Mosul sold later and we received some of the money for it.

2-[REDACTED] still owes us [$10,000] which is the remainder of the money that is still with them after they sold two Lorries for us at the car dealerships in the al-Saqlawiyah area which we have not received yet. We gave him our business and received [$10,000] from him as a down-payment but he still owes us another [$10,000], and late we gave him [$28,000] to get the Lorry back but he did not return it yet (the actual owner of the dealership is [REDACTED]

3-The value of another Lorry which is [$25,000] is still in the possession of a person in Tikrit known by brother [REDACTED]

4-We bought a Pick-up model 2000 from a person called [REDACTED] (his phone number is [REDACTED]) of which we did not pay its value yet, and the deal was to trade in this vehicle with a truck or pay its value in al-Shirqat at al-Nahar dealership close to the house of brother [REDACTED] (Killed) and in the price of the pick-up is [$7,500]

Date: 9-10 of Shawaal of 1428 H [21-22 OCT 2007]

A BKC, ammunition and other light weapons are still in the posession of [REDACTED] and his brother [REDACTED] which belong to us and Brother [REDACTED] knows about that, and the weapons that are in the possession of [REDACTED] are 2000 C5 Rockets plus an RPG-9 but he refuses to give us any of it lately and we do not know what his intention is in that regard, therefore we have to keep truing with him to get our weapons and ammunition back due to the present condition and especially since the al-Sahwah groups started opposing us.

Weapons and ammunition such as 30 containers of bullets and four BKC's in the possession of bother [REDACTED] also belong to us.

Brothers, I want you to know that i will only mention the names of fighters who were faithful to our cause and stood by us when we needed them and later I will mention the names of the traitors so that they may be punished when time comes.

Date: 12 of Shawaal of 1428 H [24 OCT 2007]

There are very few tribe members who stood by us and supported us, such as members of [REDACTED] Tribe that were surrounded by al-Sawah fighters and even though they did not quit plus members of [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] sub-tribe members. After the raid that we did against the houses and safe heavens of the deserters which led to killing a lot of them, burning some of their vehicles and spoiling some of their vehicles and weapons which affected their morale and resources tremendously, knowing that the number of fighters who did the raid were 16 and not 150 fighters as they claimed after that.

Date: 16 of Shawaal of 1428 H [28 OCT 2007]

My request to you is not to be negligent with the deserters/traitors at all, because those kinds of people look like the cancer that grew up in the body of al-Jihad Movement, therefore we should have no mercy on them even if joined the Iraqi Government security forces and do not let them have any sense of relief despite the fact that some of them ran away from ur strong hand to unknown locations with their families. Even though our Jihadi Movement goals at the early stages were to recruit as many supporters among them in order to gain more information about the Government security forces and the infidels' military and tactical movements in order to ease our movements and missions against them despite the fact that i was against such goals for security reasons. Dear brothers, I would like you to know that even though the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) acheived a lot of projects for the benefit of the people of Iraq such as bringing water, electricity and agricultural help to a lot of areas such as [REDACTED] we were mistreated, cheated, and betrayed by some of our brothers who used to be part of the Jihadi Movement, therefore we must not have mercy on those traitors until they come back to the right side--The ISI side--or get eliminated completely in order to achieve victory at the end, and I would like to mention here the name of one of families who betrayed us and lost our trust is the [REDACTED] family who were very good, faithful Jihadi Fighters, but later on we found out that those people wer nothing but hypocrites, liars, and traitors and were waiting for the right moment to switch sides with whoever pays them most and at the end they fought against us and they tried to prevent us from attacking the al-Sawah groups in [REDACTED] area by blocking our entrance to that area.

Information about the Old Battalions of fighters im my Sector:

1 - Battalion of Laylat al-Qadr Martyrs: Its group Emir [REDACTED] (Detained), and the number of fighters in this Battalion were 200. All of them were very well-eqipped with weapons and 37 vehicles and they did a lot of good activities against the invaders and its followers, but in the meantimes there are a few fighters left who are actually fighting and some were killed and some arrested but the majority betrayed us and joined al-Sawah. This battalion was one of the first battalions whose number of fighters was tarnished after Abu-Haydar al-Ansari Battalion, and the number of fighters is now only ten. [Was 200. Now 10. 5% survival/retention rate--C#4]

2- Battalion of Abu-Haydar al-Ansari: The Emir of this battalion [REDACTED] was the first renegade in this group. He ran away one month before the al-Sawah movement started in our sector and we still do not know where he is hiding. It is no wonder that most of the information we got from him was deception and lies. There were 300 fighters in the battaslion equipped with good weapons and 17 vehicles, and since deserted us the number of fighters dropped to 16 and then to two; one of whom was arrested [REDACTED] and the second one was injured [REDACTED] and the rest joined al-Sahwah groups. [Was 300. Now down to 1 and he's injured.]

3- Battalion of Hudhayfah Ibin al-Yaman: The emir of this battalion is [REDACTED] and the number of fighters are almost 60. They are very well equipped with weapons and other supplies. All of them are true and good believers plus their activities against the invaders and their followers were very good, but for the present time their activities are frozen due to their present conditions plus their families' conditions.

4- Battalion of al-Ahwal: Most of its members are scoundrels, Sectarians, non-believers and the worst one of them was [REDACTED] and he was the first one to desert his battalion and ran away to Syria then later on came back from Syria and joined the traitors while the rest of the battalion was gone except for [REDACTED] and his sons, and the military person who was in charge of the battalion his name is [REDACTED] (bad not good) and he still has in his possession 3 BKCs and 2 sniper rifles and he claims that one of those rifles was given back to its original owner [REDACTED] (I will try to take back the rest of the weapons from him soon and I will mention that later.)

5- Battalion of Muhammad Bin Muslimah: The leader of this battalion was the Martyr [REDACTED] who was killed by the traitors of the Islamic Army with help of the invader's helicopters, which also led to the destruction of some of our vehicles and weapons. Some of the fightres of this battalion deserted and especially the ones who came from [REDACTED] tribe like the traitor [REDACTED] who became an officer with the al-Sahwah group plus others who ran away with their weapons to Diyala and then disappeared like [REDACTED] who has in his possession a sniper rifle and his brothers except for one [REDACTED] who was injured with [REDACTED] who possesses a BKC.

Technical Department:

Members of this department are [REDACTED] and his sons who are still working with us plus [REDACTED] who was injured recently.

Air Defense:

One person is left in this department who is still working with us[REDACTED] who is willing to work with us to the end and he has in his possession three operative batteries (one inoperative) plus five C5 launchers and one 23mm gun.

Names of People who are still working with al-Qaeda:

1-[REDACTED]

2-[REDACTED] and his brothers

3- [REDACTED] and His brothers

4- [REDACTED]

5- [REDACTED]

6- [REDACTED]

7- [REDACTED]

8- [REDACTED]

9- [REDACTED]

10- [REDACTED]

11- [REDACTED]

12- [REDACTED]

13- [REDACTED]

14- [REDACTED]

15- [REDACTED]

16- [REDACTED]

17- [REDACTED] the Sniper/Now he is injured

18- [REDACTED]

19- [REDACTED] /Detained

20- [REDACTED]

21- [REDACTED]/left us a week ago

22- [REDACTED] and his Sons/[REDACTED]

23- [REDACTED] and his sons

24- [REDACTED]

25- [REDACTED]

26- [REDACTED]

27- [REDACTED]

28- [REDACTED]

29- [REDACTED]

30- [REDACTED]

em>31- [REDACTED]

32- [REDACTED]/there are so many negative remarks against him

33- [REDACTED]/We have not seen him for more than 20 days so far

34- [REDACTED]/We have not seen him for more than 10 days so far

[REDACTED] showed up with their group Emir [REDACTED] and they are:

35- [REDACTED]

36- [REDACTED]

37- [REDACTED]/Left three days ago

38- [REDACTED]/came back to work with us recently after his wounds healed up

And that is the number of fighters left in my sector

Remarks:

[REDACTED] and their fighters are good and faithful and they lost one of their fighters (his name Martyr [REDACTED]) fighting against al-Sawah fighters, and in addition to that the tribe area is surrounded with al-Sawah fighters who are preventing them from leaving their area. So far we have no further information about the situation over there.

I was especially struck by the way that this emir's force was clobbered by the surge strategy: from 600 fighters to a mere 20 just before he was killed and his diary captured.