What Is Al Qaeda's Role In The Iraq War

After United States deployed ground forces into Iraq in 2003, Jordanian Salafi Jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his militant group Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, achieved fame in the early stages of the Iraqi insurgency. Founded in 1999, the terror group was responsible for suicide attacks on civilians, Iraqi government institutions Italian soldiers, and Shia Islamic mosques, Al-Zarqawi's group officially pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in October 2004. The name was changed to Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn which translates to "Organization of Jihad's Base in Mesopotamia.”. Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri wrote a letter to al-Zarqawi in July 2005. The letter outlined a four-stage plan to expand their efforts in the Iraq War. The plan establishing an Islamic authority as a caliphate, spreading the conflict to Iraq's secular neighbors, creating a conflict with the nation of Israel, and expelling U.S. forces from Iraq. The letter stated the American forces were only preset “only to challenge any new Islamic entity.” …show more content…
The organization was named the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC). Brian Fishman wrote in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science this move was a mere media exercise and an attempt to give the group a more Iraqi feel. It was speculated that ISIL was trying to distance themselves from al-Qaeda as well as from some of al-Zarqawi's tactical errors like bombings by AQI of three hotels in Amman in 2005. A U.S. air-strike conducted on June 7th 2006 successfully killed al-Zarqawi. Egyptian militant Abu Ayyub al-Masri succeeded al-Zarqawi as leader of the