ÿş<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">  <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Al Jazeera - objective and balanced global news coverage and analysis- Features</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=UTF-16"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type><LINK href="article-volunteer-army_files/style.css" type=text/css rel=stylesheet> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2722.900" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY leftMargin=0 topMargin=10 rightMargin=0> <DIV align=center xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <CENTER> <TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px" align=left><IMG src="article-volunteer-army_files/banner.gif"></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG src="article-volunteer-army_files/mainheader.jpg"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER></DIV> <DIV align=center> <CENTER> <TABLE id=AutoNumber2 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#999999 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=1> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <TABLE id=AutoNumber3 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=dates id=hDate dir=ltr style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px" width="80%" bgColor=#cccccc></TD> <TD dir=ltr width="20%" bgColor=#cccccc></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <TABLE id=AutoNumber4 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=768 border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=565> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD colSpan=2 height=5></TD></TR> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px" colSpan=2> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=indicationLink2 vAlign=top><A class=indicationLink href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/index.html">Homepage<IMG src="article-volunteer-army_files/spacer.gif" width=2 border=0></A><IMG src="article-volunteer-army_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0><IMG src="article-volunteer-army_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0>/ <IMG src="article-volunteer-army_files/spacer.gif" width=2 border=0><A class=indicationLink href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/topics/index8eb6.html?cu_no=1&template_id=277&temp_type=42">Features<IMG src="article-volunteer-army_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0></A>/ </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=3 height=6></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width=10></TD> <TD><INPUT id=item_cu_no type=hidden value=1 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=item_no type=hidden value=819 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=version type=hidden value=1 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=date1 type=hidden value=25/03/2003 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=dateTime type=hidden value=" 6:42PM" xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=articalText type=hidden value="<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The invasion of Iraq has prompted hundreds of Muslims to take up arms against US-led forces. While there have been some low-level desertions in the Iraqi army, there has also been a&nbsp;personnel flow in the opposite direction. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In the build-up to the war, hundreds, maybe even thousands of volunteers have made their way to Iraq where Al Jazeera television has shown them receiving training in urban warfare and street fighting. Their aim is simple – to defend Iraq against the US invasion that creeps ever closer to Baghdad. </SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The recruits hail from all over the Muslim world. “Abu Abdul Rahman” says he left his wife and children in Egypt to come to resist a clear case of tyranny:&nbsp; “I came to Iraq secretly to participate in a mission blessed by God. It is a mission of martyrdom.” <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">A Libyan member of the international brigade identifying himself as As-Sanousi said that “the American administration carries all the elements of evil” and that he had come to Iraq to fight for God. Abu Assul Al-Din, a Syrian, expressed his firm conviction that ‘the weapon of martyrdom cannot be defeated’.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Before the US-led invasion the<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>‘Mujahideen Corps’ were based at a special camp, 20 kilometres to the north east of the capital, dedicated to training the volunteers. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“We came to fight the invaders and we will gain martyrdom if Allah wills”, said a Tunisian volunteer, his face covered by a mask to conceal his identity. Like the Arab mujahideen who fought to eject the Soviet Union from Afghanistan in the 1980s many volunteers fear being imprisoned by their own governments if they ever return home.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The volunteer brigade is inspired by other recent wars. Following the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, mujahideen from the Hizbullah led a campaign of self-sacrifice attacks to drive US forces out of Beirut. And in Somalia, peoples’ militias were successful in driving out vastly better-equipped US marines.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Many Muslim volunteers smuggled themselves into Bosnia eight years ago - a US intelligence source estimated around 7,000. They made up a significant proportion of Bosnian Muslim Army forces,&nbsp;and managed&nbsp;to establish themselves in several Croat cities and villages, laying siege to many more for extended periods. Towards the end of the war in Bosnia, their assistance&nbsp;contributed to the&nbsp;army making such spectacular gains that it was the Croatians that needed to call for the truce, backed by Europe, the US, Russia and the UN.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>Though the<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> Iraqi government is aware that its secular Ba’athist credentials are anathema to most of their new recruits it has thrown opens its doors to them and also invoked religious sentiment itself. Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan&nbsp;said at a press conference in Amman last September that "we call for confronting the aggression and aggressors not only by the Iraqi capability, but we call on all the Arab masses ... to confront the material and human interests of the aggressors.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Iraq has a religious right to defend itself and...all Arab citizens wherever they might be have the right to fight by all available means the aggression through its representatives on their land.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In recent months, Saddam Hussein has also been keen to repair the Shiite holy sites in Karbala – which his own forces had inflicted terrible damage on in the 1991 Gulf War. Today, alcohol is banned in public places and there has been much discussion recently of applying Islamic law. Toby Dodge, an expert on Iraq at Warwick University says, “it is obvious that there is a great tendency to go back to Islam among the Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites, it is the return to religion after a long period of suffering.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Volunteer brigades have been a feature of conflicts in modern history. In the 1930s about 2,400 men and women travelled to Spain to fight against the fascist government of General Franco.</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"></SPAN><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Al Jazeera</STRONG></FONT></P>" xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <TABLE id=AutoNumber5 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <TABLE id=AutoNumber5 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD dir=ltr width="100%"><A href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/xml/topics/printarticlea586.xml?cu_no=1&item_no=819&version=1&template_id=277&parent_id=258"><IMG hspace=5 src="article-volunteer-army_files/print.gif" align=right vspace=5 border=0></A><IMG onmouseover="this.style.cursor = 'hand' ;" onclick=SendByEmail(); onmouseout="this.style.cursor = '' ;" hspace=5 src="article-volunteer-army_files/email.gif" align=right vspace=5 border=0></TD></TR> <TR> <TD height=5></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=articalTitle>Iraq's volunteer army</TD></TR> <TR> <TD height=15></TD></TR> <TR> <TD id=artical vAlign=top></TD></TR> <TR> <TD height=12></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width="100%" background=article-volunteer-army_files/h-dotedline-bg.gif><IMG height=1 src="article-volunteer-army_files/spacer.gif" width=1></TD></TR> <TR> <TD height=10></TD></TR> <TR> <TD dir=ltr width="100%"><A href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/xml/topics/printarticlea586.xml?cu_no=1&item_no=819&version=1&template_id=277&parent_id=258"><IMG hspace=5 src="article-volunteer-army_files/print.gif" align=right vspace=5 border=0></A><IMG onmouseover="this.style.cursor = 'hand' ;" onclick=SendByEmail(); onmouseout="this.style.cursor = '' ;" hspace=5 src="article-volunteer-army_files/email.gif" align=right vspace=5 border=0></TD></TR> <TR> <TD height=5></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.2 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> if(document.all.artical) document.all.artical.innerHTML = document.all.articalText.value ; </SCRIPT> </TD> <TD width=10></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD> <TD dir=ltr width=1 bgColor=#cccccc><IMG height=1 src="article-volunteer-army_files/spacer.gif" width=1 border=0></TD> <TD vAlign=top width=202> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD colSpan=3 height=10></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width=10></TD> <TD><A href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/index.html"><IMG src="article-volunteer-army_files/homepage.gif" border=0></A></TD> <TD width=10></TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=3 height=8></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width=10></TD> <TD></TD> <TD width=10></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER></DIV> <SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.2> if( document.all.date1 ) { docDate = document.all.date1.value ; } </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="article-volunteer-army_files/HomeMenu.js"></SCRIPT> </BODY></HTML>