An Alleged Insurgent's Perspective

Dec. 2, 2005 — -- "I represent the political side of the Iraqi resistance," a man claiming to be a part of Iraq's insurgency told ABC News in an exclusive interview. The man, who spoke with quiet emotion, is one of many Iraqis that U.S. soldiers would consider an insurgent. He was quick to counter that he is one of countless Iraqis in the "resistance."

"This is the tribal way of resisting because if my brother or cousin was killed … and if I did not fight, it will be a big shame haunting me," he said. "So how can an occupier kill my relatives and I do nothing?"

He did not give his name and said he was "elected" by several groups to meet ABC News at a house on Baghdad's west side to tell their story. Concerned about security, all cell phones were taken away before the interview began.

The man said the insurgency, or resistance, has a simple set of demands. They want the United States to pull out of Iraq; an end to military operations that target mainly Sunni areas; limits on Iran's influence in Iraq; and they want the respect of the Iraqi government.

U.S. commanders say there are three types of insurgencies in Iraq: those inspired by al Qaeda and its leader, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi; others who wish for the return of Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath party; and those who view the United States as an occupying power and want it to leave.

"What if things were the other way around and we had occupied the United States? what would Americans do?" he said. "Would they receive us with roses?"

He said the insurgency -- or resistance -- that he represents is not anti-democratic. He said he joined the resistance soon after the promise of a U.S. liberation of Iraq became what he viewed as an occupation. "We are not against the vote," he said, "only persons who have plans to serve Iraq must be elected."

With Iraqi national elections just around the corner, the question of U.S. troops in Iraq has become an issue. Many politicians have appealed to disaffected Sunni voters by calling for a firm timetable for a U.S. withdrawl. And at a recent conference in Cairo, top Iraqi politicians agreed to a final message that said there was a "legitimate right of resistance" in Iraq.

Aihman Alsammarae is an Iraqi American who says he has been talking to several insurgent groups for months. He has lived in Chicago since 1976 and is now running for office in the upcoming Iraqi elections.

"I think I met, without exaggeration, probably 10, 11, 12 of them because there is bigger groups and there is smaller groups," Alsammarae said. "You have to know the resistance is not just one army. There are seven large armies and probably 50 smaller ones."

Alsammarae approaches the deadly and seemingly intractable problem of the insurgency with an American optimism and an engineer's sensibility. His prescription: Americans and insurgents -- at least those moderate parts of the insurgency -- need to talk.

"It is war," he said. "Of course they kill some Americans, and we kill a lot of Iraqis. You cannot always say they kill American soldiers, so we will never talk with them. So when will you talk? When you lose the war?"

Alsammarae believes the time is right for the United States to engage some members of the resistance. He says with elections approaching and the new Iraqi government soon to be formed, many in the largely Sunni insurgency fear the connection between Iran and Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslim population.

He said some in the insurgency now view the United States as the only honest broker in what they view as a massive threat of Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs.

"They think the influence of all the security police coming from the neighboring country [Iran] to Iraq is the major problem," he said. "They say the Americans will leave but those guys never will."