Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Death squad leader behind abduction of five Britons is named. Abu Dera has been the prime force behind the Shiite massacres of Sunnis in Baghdad, and is considered by US intel sources as an Iraqi asset of Iran’s revolutionary guard.

Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s Foreign Minister, told The Times of London that a group led by Abu Dera, a legendary figure with strong Iranian connections who is renowned for his brutality, was behind the abduction of the five Britons from the Iraqi Finance Ministry on May 29.

( Abu Dera is known as “the Shiite Zarqawi”. Abu Dera is his nom de guerre, and means “the Butcher.” He is known to be responsible for the killings of untold numbers of Sunnis around Baghdad. It is believed that he operated out of Sadr City and many think that he was once linked to the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr and his senior aides publicly disavow him, saying, “He is not Mahdi Army and he never was.” While he may not be a member of the Mahdi Army now, it is likely that he was once affiliated with the group in some way and broke off to form his own gang.

Photo believed to be of Abu Dera

He has spent up to six months at a time in Tehran. His efforts against Iraq’s Sunnis is one of the principle causes of the misimpression of civil war in Iraq - most of the “sectarian” killing has been committed by Al Qaeda and a few gangs like Abu Dera’s. Abu Dera was operating mainly to cause mayhem appearing as civil war that would convince the US public to force a military withdrawal, thereby delivering most of the country to his Iranian sponsors, retaining a fiefdom within for himself.

Iraqi Sunnis accuse Abu Deraa of killing thousands of Sunnis, not just political figures and militant Salafists, but ordinary civilians as well. One of his associates recounted to an Australian newspaper how Abu Deraa lured Sunni men to their deaths. The associate explained how Abu Deraa commandeered a fleet of ambulances and drove them into a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad calling on all young men to come and give blood, announcing on a loud speaker that “the Shiites are killing your Sunni brothers” (The Age, August 22). The young men went to the ambulances and were trapped and killed. According to one of the many rumors circulating around the country, Abu Deraa offers his victims a choice in their murder—suffocation, shooting or being smashed to death with cinder blocks. Many of the murdered victims have been found in the al-Seddah sector of Sadr City, an area which Iraqis have nicknamed the “Happiness Hotel.” Victims are found in shallow graves, many with signs of torture.

Per Talisman Gate, he is the illiterate son of a fishmonger. He served as a Master Sergeant (Artillery) in the Iraqi Army and saw front-line action during the Iraq-Iran war (1980-88), but was discharged after receiving a debilitating wound. Some claim he was wounded in his left foot, and he presently walks with a slight limp. Abu Dera rose to prominence in Sadr City as a projectiles expert during the second round of clashes between American forces and the Mahdi Army in November 2004. He also seemed to be well funded. After the Samara Shrine bombing last February, Abu Dera’s stature as the “protector” of Sadr City reached its zenith. One myth had him atop the dome of the Abu Hanifa Mosque (the most important shrine for Iraq’s Sunnis) within hours of the Samara bombing. He was allegedly rigging the dome with explosives when a call came in from Muqtada al-Sadr himself asking him to stop. )
Mr Zebari said there was a striking similiarity between the abduction of the Brits and that of Iraq’s Deputy Oil Minister by Abu Dera’s supporters on August 14. In both instances well-organised forces broke into heavily protected compounds.

The minister and five colleagues were seized by gunmen dressed in security force uniforms who forced their way into the offices of Iraq’s crude oil marketing agency. The Britons were seized by armed men dressed as Iraqi policemen who broke into the Finance Ministry. “I believe the same group who did this did the Ministry of Finance [raid],” Mr Zebari said in an interview in which he also cautioned of “catastrophic consequences” if Britain and America prematurely withdraw from Iraq.

Abdel Jabber al-Wagaa, the Deputy Oil Minister, and his colleagues were released unharmed on Tuesday after what Mr Zebari described as “tough” negotiations with the kidnappers. These talks enabled the Iraqi authorities to establish who the kidnappers were. However, Mr Zebari said he was unaware of any contact with the kidnappers of the Britons – a computer consultant and four security guards – and could not say for certain that they were still alive. “People say that since there’s not been any announcements or videos they may have been killed, but I really don’t know,” he said.

Britain has consistently refused to discuss its efforts to rescue the hostages, or even to name them, and an embassy spokeswoman in Baghdad declined to comment on Abu Dera’s alleged involvement yesterday.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is in contact with the families of the five hostages and has advised them all not to speak publicly.

In a separate development yesterday the rebel Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his al-Mahdi Army to suspend all armed activities for six months while it restructured itself.

The al-Mahdi Army has been accused of the widespread killing of Sunni civilians as well as numerous attacks on US and British forces. In April the Pentagon labelled it the biggest threat to stability in Iraq. On Tuesday its gunmen fought a running battle with police allied to the rival Badr Brigade in the Shia city of Kerbala, killing 52 people and forcing hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to abandon an important religious festival.

But US and Iraqi officials were unsure that the announcement would lead to a reduction in violence. Some experts believe that Moqtada simply wants to distance himself from what happened in Karbala, and his authority is no longer absolute. The al-Mahdi Army is said to have splintered in recent months, with breakaway factions backed by Iran being blamed for some of the worst violence. Abu Dera is believed to lead one of those.

He is an elusive figure who is spoken of with awe in the Shia slums of Sadr City, where he was raised.

After the US invasion of 2003 he is thought to have been a leading member of the al-Mahdi Army and to have led attacks on American troops. And when Sunni extremists bombed the Shia shrine in Samarra in 2006 he is said to have led the Shia death squads that killed thousands of innocent Sunnis in revenge. Locals say the Iraqi police, in fear for their lives, at times allowed him free passage.

There is a video recording of a man believed to be Abu Dera kidnapping Saddam Hussein’s lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi, parading him through the streets of Sadr City, and then shooting him three times in the head. The video played for awhile on Youtube, until it was removed for violation of terms of use.

Abu Dera, whose real name is Ismail al-Zerjawi, is thought to be in his late thirties, married with two sons. His daring raids into Sunni communities have made him a hero to many poor young Shias.