Al Qaeda has Organized Insurgent groups into a coalition demanding its own Iraqi state. This alliance is called the "Hilf Al-Mutayibeen Coalition," an eight and a half minute video, issued today, by the Mujahideen Shura Council, stated. The speaker on the video, whose face was blocked on the video, described as the spokesman of the Ministry of Information, of the "Islamic State of Iraq," according to Reuters, said the Islamic state should include Baghdad, the provinces of Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Salahedddin, Nineveh and parts of Babel and Wasit. Iraq has 18 provinces.
The video promises to liberate Sunni Muslims "from foreign oppressors and their local puppets."
Jihad Unspun reports "The newly formed group spearheaded by the Mujahideen Shura Council includes Jaish Al-Fatiheen, Jund al-Sahaba, Kataeb Ansar al-Tawheed wal-Sunnah, and many Tribal Chiefs among others as well as the Mujahideen Shura Council that consists of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and seven other Mujahideen groups.
"The Sunni insurgent coalition was set up last week by the Al Qaeda-led Mujahideen Shura Council, smaller groups and unnamed tribal leaders. It was named after an historic coalition formed to unite a major Arab tribe.
He said the move to announce the Islamic state came after "the Kurds secured a northern state and a federal state was approved for the rejectionists (Shia Muslims) in the centre and the south".
Jihad Unspun reports that the person on the video stated:
"These are the glad tidings coming out from the Land of the Two Rivers, the land of the Caliphates, and from Baghdad, the home of the Khilafa, may Allah free it from the Crusaders and Saffavids, in the blessed month of Ramadan. The fruits of the tree of Tawheed that the martyrs watered with their blood, have ripened and their time for harvest has come.
The truthful Mujahideen in the land of the two rivers have unified and reinforced one another and announce to the Muslims everywhere and Ahl-as-Sunnah in Iraq especially, the glad tiding of the establishment of the State of Truth, the State of Islam that will implement Allah's Shariah for the people in the land, that will protect Islam and be a strong shield for Ahl-as-Sunnah in the land of the two rivers.
It is the pleasure of the Media Committee to present to all Muslims the official spokesman of the Islamic State of Iraq, the spokesman of the Ministry of Information, to bring you the good news. And we call Upon all Muslims in the world, to support this state with money, men and Du'a, and Allah has full power and control over His affairs, but most of the men know not, and to Allah belongs all thanks and favour."
The Financial Times said,
"It is rarely clear whether internet statements represent a coherent stance by insurgents or a splinter group, or indeed if they are authentic at all.
But if a separate state is really now a goal of radical Sunni Islamist guerillas, it would put them at odds with mainstream Sunni politicians and many other insurgent groups. They tend to look askance at partition, which they claim would deprive their oil-poor central Iraqi heartland of resources."
Reuters reports that the video, described how a coalition was formed "to step up the fight against U.S.-led forces and urged Sunni Muslim tribal leaders to join."
Further, Reuters reported,
"We call on all the mujahideen (holy fighters), scholars, tribal elders and dignitaries to join hands with their brothers in the coalition to implement God's sharia, expel the occupiers and bring victory to God's oppressed people," said a voice on the video tape posted on a main Islamist Web site.
The tape showed six men, whose faces were hidden, wearing white Arab robes and sitting in a circle, before taking an oath.
"We swear by God to do our utmost to free our prisoners and to rid Sunnis from the oppression of the rejectionists (Shi'ite Muslims) and the crusader occupiers...," the men on the video pledged. The video tape's authenticity could not be verified.
There has been much talk about the potential break-up of Iraq into three separate states-- one Kurdish, one Shia and one Sunni. Even James Baker, involved in an independent study of the situation has suggested this possiblity.
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