al Qaeda continues its campaign of targeted assassinations against Sunni leaders cooperating with the elected government of Iraq. Today, a suicide bomber put Maamoon Sami Rasheed al-Awani, the governor of Anbar province, in its sights and attempted to kill him with a suicide car bomb. al-Awani survived the attack, but ten Iraqi bystanders were killed in the ensuing blast. “This is a cowardly attempt, and this is not in the best interest of Anbar or the country,” Awani said. “On the same day of the attack, I am here and am ready to work. I will continue working to serve my people, to serve the people of Anbar and Iraq.” Multinational Forces – Iraq reports this is “approximately the 29th attempt on his life,” and his son was recently kidnapped but safely returned.
While I was in Ramadi, Major General Richard Huck, the Commanding General of the 2nd Marine Division, Brigadier General James Williams, the Assistant Commander of the 2nd Marine Division, and Colonel John Gronski, the commanding officer of the 2/28th Brigade Combat Team spoke highly of Mr. Awani. His family is confined to a compound as they are under the constant threat of death or kidnapping, yet he continues to show up to work.
The Center for Combating Terrorism at West Point recently published three Harmony documents. The document titled “Al Qa’ida in raq Situation Report” [PDF] discusses the state of affairs in Iraq and the problems al Qaeda is encountering in Anbar province. In the document, Awani is identified as one of al Qaeda’s eight main targets for assassination (“7- Mamun al-‘Alwani, al-Anbar governor, attached to you the security report in Ramadi.”) Other Sunnis targeted for assassination include two generals, four tribal sheikhs and the manager of the Sunni Endowment. The unnamed author is seeking approval to carry out the murders. The unnamed author laments the procedural obstacles that stand in the way of conducting assassinations:
We have no problem with you saying for us to give the name of the person before killing him, but we owe god, this will only be a delay for us, and time is not on our side, and for you to say to kill him outside his city, sometimes it take months before the person leaves his city, like if it’s in Baghdad for example, that’s difficult, and time is not on our side…
At one point in the letter, the unknown author states “our policy is to eliminate the heads of infidelity without any announcements.” al Qaeda targeted Awani inside Ramadi, in broad daylight with civilian bystanders using a tactic (suicide car bombing) that is almost exclusively tied to al Qaeda. al Qaeda in Iraq command appears to be heading the advice of its tactical commanders. But the change in tactics also reflects the need for al Qaeda to stifle the pro-government Sunnis before the idea of cooperation with the central government takes root.
