The Role of Iraqi Tribes after the Islamic State's Ascendance

摘要

The Iraq War shaped the way both IS and al-Qaida understand the role of local populations, and the two organizations learned diametrically opposed lessons from the war. Al-Qaida came to believe that AQI s brutality had alienated local populations and fomented resistance, thus contributing to the organization's downfall. As a result, al-Qaida instructed its affiliates to be less intrusive and more patient when dealing with local populations. For instance, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb emir Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud reprimanded jihadists for their iron-fisted governance approach in Mali in 2012, telling them that "our previous experience proved that applying sharia [Islamic law] this way, without taking the environment into consideration, will lead to people rejecting the religion and engender hatred toward the mujahedin." In contrast, the conclusion IS drew from AQI s defeat is seemingly that AQI had collapsed because it failed to sufficiently stamp out opposition. Rather than viewing the population as a potential ally, IS generally perceives tribes as a potential threat to its supremacy, as well as religiously suspect.