News - Telegraph
Damien McElroy spent a week in the heart of the insurgency in Anbar province in Iraq. In the third of five exclusive reports, he describes how al-Qa'eda loyalists are returning home.
A unique tribal reconciliation process is allowing repentant former al-Qa'eda loyalists to return to homes and families free from the threat of arrest by coalition forces.
The voluntary scheme has gained the backing of American commanders but is being run by local chieftains to rehabilitate sons of the region who no longer follow the path of violence.
Al-Qaim, a district in the far west of Anbar province, has reported dramatic gains against al-Qa'eda cells in the area but now faces a dilemma over the return of ex-residents who had joined the ranks of radical Islamic fighters after the American invasion in 2003.
In the fight against al-Qa'eda which has raged since last year, hundreds of residents of the region were forced out by fighting but have since signalled a wish to go home.
Sheikh Kurdi Rafi al-Shurayji, who as factor for the paramount sheikh acts as a chief representative of the tribes in the area, revealed a formal system had been established to rehabilitate ex-residents that renounced al-Qa'eda.
"Many of our people want to come back to their families," he said. "If they are young, they can't get married or get a job outside their own people. The older ones who worked with al-Qa'eda want to get back to resume their lives."
Sheikh Kurdi has forged a deal with the American coalition that gives US commanders a supervisory role in the rehabilitation process.
An applicant's first point of contact is his own sheikh, who must agree to sponsor his plea and vouch that he will not resume insurgent activity.
"We conduct background checks on the individuals to ensure that they do not have Iraqi blood on their hands," said Sheikh Kurdi. "If they are clean we ask them to reveal all they know about insurgent activity. In this way we have found weapons caches and even discovered unknown cells."
Before American Marines regained control of the area, which lies on the Syrian border, al-Qaim was a popular 'rat-run' for foreign fighters travelling to Iraq for jihad. Since the inception of the rehabilitation programme almost 50 residents have applied and 40 individuals have been accepted.
One of the successful returnees was Eid Mehlif Alab, a school friend of Sheikh Kurdi who had operated safe houses and gathered intelligence for terrorist groups.
"When the Americans took control Fallujah was the only place to seek safety," he said. "But it was tiring to be away from home, family and friends. When it became clear that al-Qa'eda were not in Iraq for holy war but terrorism, the option of returning back in peace was there."
The man who stands between US and new war US 'must break Iran and Syria regimes' Comment: Would you vote for war on Iran?
Following vetting the sheikh sponsor promises his peers the offender will maintain a record of good behaviour and that other members of the tribe will keep a watch on the returnee.
Sheikh Kurdi said the programme has built-in safeguards to ensure renegades aren't tempted to start assisting terrorists again. "We give them jobs as contractors, drivers, cooks and carpenters to ensure they are not going to do the same old thing."
Lieutenant-Colonel Jason Bohm who must approve each successful applicant based on the sheikhs recommendations said programme has become a model for other parts of Iraq where the tribes have joined the battle against al-Qa'eda.
"If someone fails we're not forced to arrest them because we haven't seen them," he said. "We don't want to because that would hurt the credibility of the programme.
Iraq insurgency: al-Qa'eda returns home
Linear Mode
