"Honor Front" for Sunni collaborators

Abu Azzam Al-Tamimi, in a January 18 2008 interview with AlArabiya transcribed here, said he was a former Islamic Army in Iraq commander, but had come around to the view that the danger of Iranian occupation of Iraq was greater than the danger of the American occupation, because the latter was only temporary, but the Iranian occupation would be permanent. At one point in the interview he said:

My own personal view is that I do not think that at the present time the American presence in Iraq is negative. I think an American withdrawal right now would be catastrophic, a catastrophe that would befall Iraq, because Iraq could come completely under the umbrella of Iranian influence, and not just Iraq, but perhaps the whole region.

The IAI naturally denied they ever had anything to do with Tamimi, and the question who he was wasn't resolved, except that he was involved with Baghdad-area Awakenings.

Despite his personal obscurity, other points in his interview, particularly his assertions about the breadth of Iranian influence in Iraq--including the claim that Iran was working with AlQaeda in addition to every other group in Iraq--made his remarks a topic of amplification and promotion on MEMRI and on various pro-Cheney websites in America.

So you'd think that a man with this kind of a position--support for the American occupation and claims of Iranian support for AlQaeda, along with connections to the Sunni Awakenings--would be a hot property if in fact the Americans are laying the groundwork for a new round of pro-occupation, anti-Iranian fitna. And you'd be right.

Today AlJazeera reports:

Abu Azzam Al-Tamimi one of the leaders of the Baghdad area Awakenings announced the formation of a political movement called the Iraqi Honor Front, saying the aim is to fill what he calls a political vacuum that has occurred in Iraq.

Tamimi said the Honor Front includes major leaders of the Awakening councils in the regions of Amariya, Ghazaliya, Khadara, Taji, Abu Ghraib and others, along with some officers in the former army, and some tribal personalities.

He said the Front will plan out for itself a peaceful path, avoiding any manifestations of violence, and he said the group will avoid any religions coloration that would take away from its political content. ...

This announcement of a new political formation comes [the journalist notes] a day after the announcement by the government of decision on a draft law on provincial council [elections].