Zarqawi’s war

The war was sold to Sunni Muslims as a war against resurgent Shiism. A key propaganda tool used by the US and its allies was to undermine the Islamic credentials of Iran’s revolutionary leaders. Polemical anti-Shia literature flooded Muslim communities across the world (including Australia), much of it published by religious institutions financed by the US and Saudi Arabia.

While anti-Shia propaganda was a useful beast to combat the export of “Islamic revolution”, it has come back to bite the US in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The Taliban regime fed on anti-Shia sentiment to conquer Afghanistan. Regular Taliban massacres of Shia Tajik and Hazeri tribesman saw waves of refugees flee to all corners of the globe, including Australia.

In Iraq, Zarqawi used anti-Shia rhetoric to inspire sectarian violence that has killed over 25,000 civilians since February. In an audio recording released on jihadi websites in April, Zarqawi echoed the sentiments of typical Saudi-financed anti-Shia propaganda: “Wake up, pay attention and prepare to confront the poisons of the Shia snakes. Forget about those advocating the end of sectarianism.”

Zarqawi’s war was regarded by few Iraqis as a religiously-sanctioned jihad or just war. BBC Monitoring cited one elderly Iraqi man expressing joy at Zarqawi’s death. “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi deserves to be cut into pieces because he hurt, killed the people and slaughtered the Muslims”.

Hardly a tribute fit for a martyr.