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A new Afghanistan? Exploring the Iraqi jihadist training ground
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02 June 2006
A new Afghanistan? Exploring the Iraqi jihadist training ground
By Michael Knights and Brooke Neumann
The development of terrorist tactics, techniques and procedures consistently gets the most attention when the jihad in Iraq is discussed. According to David Low, the US national intelligence officer for transnational threats, Iraq provides terrorists with "a training ground and the opportunity for enhancing technical skills".
Due to its urban and semi-urban nature and developed infrastructure, Iraq is a complex environment in which to undertake terrorist and counter-terrorist operations. As one US military analyst told Jane's: "Iraq mirrors the operating environment in the rest of the Middle East much better than Afghanistan, northern Pakistan or Kashmir ever did." The analyst added that Iraq has a much denser network of infrastructure targets and communications systems, facilitating more inventive targeting and communications strategies.
Whereas militants could travel to and live in Afghanistan overtly, every aspect of the Iraqi jihad is covert. This creates a different type of jihadist who has to observe certain operational security rules from the very outset of his life as a militant. Militants may get basic information about what to say and do on the inbound trip to Iraq from their recruiter or by internet communiqué for those who are completely unconnected to any terrorist cell. Although entering Iraq via Syria or Iran is not particularly difficult, and while the trip is often bewildering to young jihadists as they are passed through people-moving smuggler networks, the experience does teach some basic covert warfare skills.
Once in Iraq, jihadists build on these skills. Operating in Iraq has always required attention to operational security, even during the Saddam era. An audiotape released by jihadist Abu Mohammed al-Salmani in April explained that terrorists had used Iraq as a base before Operation Iraqi Freedom but had always needed to maintain a covert presence. Al-Salmani said: "The Americans lacked acceptance among the public and that made them less dangerous to us than the Iraqi regime, which was able to infiltrate every household in Iraq."
Since 2003, jihadists have operated in smaller and smaller groups, developed cell structures with only one point of contact and taken steps to lower the profile of their safe houses and training camps. Jihadist accounts stress the importance of operational security, such as the need to remain indoors in hot, dank safe houses with the blinds closed during daylight hours. This introverted existence - where prayer and Koranic readings are the only distractions - is the perfect environment for radicalisation. Since jihadists have outstayed their welcome in rural areas and smaller cities in Anbar, it appears that their future will rest in the bustle of larger cities. In a sense, they are already beginning to act more like terrorists than guerrillas, and these skills are well suited to operations in other countries in the region and beyond.
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