Mohammed Hassan (angry). The problem today is that the real resistance, led by the Resistance General Command (which includes the main components of the resistance) is not reflected in our mainstream media. A national resistance chief declared to an Arab television station from Jordan that: « There are two resistances in Iraq. A true one with a national project which aims at driving out the occupying forces and which attacks the US army and its local allies. And a false one, which has been created to discredit the true resistance and which attacks mosques and markets. »

Our media refer to the website of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, that of Zarqawi, presented as the chief of the insurgents ?

Mohammed Hassan It’s true. If you are to believe them, the Al-Zarqawi group are claiming practically all the attacks in Iraq, whether they are attacks on the Americans or car bombs that explode in markets or in front of mosques.

That’s just not on and the US military experts have to admit as much themselves. That a Jordanian, thirsty for blood and eager to pitch Iraq into civil war, could be leading the resistance is absurd, as is confirmed by many observers, who even question the existence of Zarqawi.

Al-Zarqawi is nothing more than a weapon of mass deception in the hands of the US army, which enables the latter to hide its « black propaganda » activities, used to mount the population against the resistance. Many Iraqis say the same. Read a weblog like Riverbend, written by a young woman from Baghdad, who on May 18 says this : « The bombs are mysterious. Some of them explode in the midst of National Guard and near American troops or Iraqi Police and others explode near mosques, churches, and shops or in the middle of souks. One thing that surprises us about the news reports of these bombs is that they are inevitably linked to suicide bombers. The reality is that some of these bombs are not suicide bombs - they are car bombs that are either being remotely detonated or maybe time bombs. All we know is that the techniques differ and apparently so do the intentions. Some will tell you they are from the resistance. Some say Chalabi (deputy Prime Minister and close to the Americans) and his thugs are responsible for a number of them. Others blame Iran and the SCIRI militia Badr (linked to the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution, one of the main Shia parties in the government) »

This first-hand account confirms other information. Two types of action have to be distinguished, those of the true resistance and the attacks against civilians, made with bombs set off at a distance and carried out by the United States or by pro-US militias.

How is it possible to obtain credible information about the resistance in that case?

Mohammed Hassan. There are websites, not only in Arabic but also in English, which regularly publish bulletins reporting acts of the resistance. The facts are indisputable, even if American losses are sometimes exaggerated. You can find information on sites like www.uruknet.info or www.albasrah.net.

Looking beyond the distorting mirror of the media, how is the present situation to be judged, four months after the elections ?

Mohammed Hassan. A recent UN report noted that a quarter of Iraqi children suffer from chronic malnutrition, the probability of dying before the age of 40 is three times higher in Iraq than in the neighbouring countries, three quarters of the inhabitants do not have access to a stable supply of electricity, a third have great difficulty in obtaining drinking water.

As we predicted, the elections have not changed the day to day situation of the Iraqis, which has actually worsened, as Iraq has entered a new phase in the war of occupation, which kills even more people.

A new phase ?

Mohammed Hassan. Yes, since the battle of Fallujah in last November-December, the occupation army has passed from the strategy of « search and destroy » to that of « bodycounting ».

Until recently, the strategy of the Pentagon was to identify precisely those towns and villages where most of the attacks took place. Then, the US army would encircle a limited area, organise raids and make arrests to decapitate the resistance. This was « search and destroy », a destructive but limited war.

The US army was still trying to win over part of the population, to infiltrate the resistance and to build a new Iraqi army.

This strategy has failed. Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary in person, gave the order to pass to a new stage, one of massive destruction of Resistance towns and villages.

And then sending thousands of marines there after the carpet bombing of the towns.

There was the almost complete destruction of Fallujah, a crime against humanity, as witnessed by recent pictures shown by the independent journalist Dahr Jamail.

Recently, there have also been the cases of towns like Tell Afar, Al Qaim, Haditah, all of which were savagely attacked. Thousands of deaths far from the cameras.

The « body-counting » then consists of measuring the success of an operation by the number of Iraqis killed. For instance, at the beginning of May, the American media announced « Operation Matador » against the little town of Al-Qaïm as follows : « 100 rebels killed in a US offensive in West Iraq »

In short, the US army used to identify the fish in the sea and catch it with some of its neighbours. Today, it tries to drain the sea the fish is in, at the price of killing all the fish.

Such a policy only broadens the social base of the resistance, as more and more families are hit in their flesh by American attacks.

A broadening of the resistance? Really?

Mohammed Hassan. It’s a new stage which broadens the war, but at the same time proves the weakness of the occupation army and the little credit of the puppet government.

Four months after the elections, the Iraqi government, like the US army, has no real control over the country. The real resistance continues to strike important blows against the occupying forces.

The latest event was the elimination of the Iraqi counter-insurgence chief, Walae Rubaye, n°1 of security in Iraq, on 23 May. One of the best protected men in the country! His elimination proves the capacity of the resistance to infiltrate the highest levels of power

The resistance is gaining ground, as Pat Lang, ex Pentagon chief of espionage for the Middle East, states : « The insurgency has been getting stronger every passing day. When the violence recedes, it’s a sign that they are regrouping. I have not seen any coherent evidence that we are winning against the insurgency. » According to him, Saddam Hussein’s regime did indeed prepare the insurgency in advance, with officers of the old Iraqi army in the core of every current resistance group. « They’re well co-ordinated and have consistently adjusted their strategy. »

In addition, the new Iraqi army hasn’t managed to see the light, thus increasing the pressure on the US army itself, the rest of the troops of a disintegrating coalition and the tens of thousands of mercenaries in the country. The American army is also finding it increasingly difficult to recruit in the United States, because of the war in Iraq.

Mercenaries are today recruited elsewhere in the world: as in Uganda, where 10.000 men will be enrolled in the following months to take part in the war in Iraq as security forces.

Today, the US Army can depend locally only on the existing militias of the Kurdish and Shia factions in power. However, the situation is extremely dangerous, as the militias have very narrow aims, linked to their community interests and have no national project capable of controlling the whole country as the Pentagon would like.

There is the Kurdish militia of Talabani, the President, composed of a few thousand Peshmergas active in Iraqi Kurdistan and to a limited extent elsewhere. There is the Badr militia of pro-Iranian Shia.

There is also the militia of Chalabi, who was for a long time Rumsfeld’s protégé and who is encouraging the secession of the Southern provinces, so as to create a mini-state round the Basra oil fields. And finally, there is the pro-US militia of ex Prime Minister Allawi.

Incapable of conquering Iraq, is the United States not developing a strategy of dividing the country in three, with Kurdistan and the oil-fields round Kirkuk in the North, a mini-state round Basra in the South and the central region isolated?

Mohammed Hassan. Perhaps I’ll surprise you, but I don’t think so. Look at what Anthony Cordesman, one of the most important American military experts, says:

According to Cordesman, the US Army has several plans. Plan A was to hold the country with a stable pro-US regime. A failure.

Without a real hold on the country, the plan B aims at dividing the population to a maximum, keeping it away from the Resistance but at the same time building up a centralised army, the only guarantee the country can be stabilised eventually.

That’s the present situation. A certain federalisation of the country is permitted, religious and ethnic contradictions are exacerbated. And the cake crumbs of the occupation are divided up among the Kurdish, Shia and Sunni bourgeoisie who share a pseudo-power. For a certain length of time, they can attract part of the people to them on this basis. However, a clear division into three states is not to the advantage of the Americans, as that would lead to endless instability.

So, says Cordesman, a single Iraqi army will in any case have to be created because that is the only guarantee the US can have a vicarious control over the country. Cordesman insists on the urgency. High-ranking, experienced officers must be recruited. And at rank and file level the Shia and Kurdish militias as well as those of Chalabi and Allawi, composed mainly of illiterate peasants and elements of the old army. This B plan is however also collapsing.

And the plan C ?

Mohammed Hassan. The plan C for Cordesman is to get ready to leave Iraq with the US Army. In this event, the US Army would have to withdraw to the US bases in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf.

With the risk of civil war ?

Mohammed Hassan. Yes, a short civil war. Not between Shia and Sunni or between Arabs and Kurds. Between pro-US militias, which will collapse without US support, and the national resistance.

Recently, the British newspaper The Sun published a photo of Saddam Hussein in his underpants. That picture went round the world. Shortly before that, an Egyptian paper revealed a secret meeting between Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein at the end of April. True or false ?

Mohammed Hassan. There are strong indications that the information is correct. What the Egyptian magazine al-Usbu declared on May 2 was confirmed by one of Saddam Hussein’s lawyers in the newspaper al-Arab of May 27. And it was not denied by Washington.

Rumsfeld is said to have proposed to Saddam to make a public television appeal calling on the Resistance to lay down their arms and join the political process, in exchange for a foreign exile for the Iraqi president. Saddam apparently categorically refused this proposal, declaring that he supported the current resistance but had no ambition to become president of Iraq again, only of his party, the Baath.

The simple fact of this meeting reveals that the resistance is essentially nationalist, and is not linked to so-called foreign Islamic terrorists from abroad.

Nevertheless, a meeting between Rumsfeld and the man who was declared Public Enemy N°1 by Bush is a big change, is it not?

Mohammed Hassan. Yes, and it shows what a dead end Washington is in. In the first year of the Occupation, US policy was to eliminate Baath civil servants and officers from all important positions. The appointment of Iyad Allawi as Prime Minister in June 2004 was a turning point.

American strategists wanted to regain control of part of the old army, dismantled in May 2003 and which had packed up and entered the resistance en masse.

They wanted to make sure Allawi, faithful ally of the US, would win the elections. Very quickly, however, Allawi was revealed to be very unpopular. His call for an amnesty for all those of the old regime was a fiasco.

With the elections, The United States was forced to accept a pro-Iranian coalition composed of Kurdish and Shia parties, which was not its first choice. It took three months to form the government and nothing indicates it will last long, incapable as it is of solving the smallest essential problem.

The resistance continues at all levels : on the military level, but also on the political and social level. Witness the recent general strike in Ramadi. As well as the protests of writers, and women who are mobilising against the reintroduction of the sharia,… And this resistance is strongly influenced by the Baathists, allied to communists, nationalists et Islamic forces.

So, right after the elections, the US press declared that there were secret meetings between ex-Baath officers and the United States. Unconvincing, the information was probably aimed at opening doors. Look at Afghanistan, where the Commission of Reconciliation led by President Karzaï, pro-US, has called for a general amnesty, including the Talibans, even the famous mollah Omar, ally of Ussama Ben Laden.

So, in this context, it is very likely the Saddam-Rumsfeld meeting actually took place. And the business with the photo of Saddam in his underpants is only a reply by the Americans to try and humiliate both him and the resistance. Otherwise, why bring out a photo that had been in their possession for a year?

On 22 June, an international conference of governments will meet in Brussels to support the Iraqi government, on the initiative of the European Union. What is your reaction?

Mohammed Hassan. The summit will give political support but without any practical results. It is an empty box which will be presented to the Iraqi government by European governments like France and Germany which have given only symbolic support. Nothing before or after the elections.

However, this support is obviously also support for the United States, an acceptance of the result of an illegal aggression. And the refusal to support an independent project for Iraq.

Today, the Iraqi resistance is alone in the world, without the support of its neighbours or of other powers. And look how it manages to put the American ogre in difficulty. It is more necessary than ever to help it.

It deserves real political support from the anti-war movement, from the movement for the liberation of the peoples of the Third World.