The latest statements from the Islamic Army of Iraq's official spokesman- Dr. Ibrahim al-Shammary- concern two subjects. Firstly, the death sentence handed down to the former Sunni Arab MP Ahmed al-Alwani, who was a central figure behind the renewal of Iraq's wider Sunni insurgency. Alwani was the MP the security forces under then PM Nouri al-Maliki attempted to arrest in December 2013 as they were also ordered to dismantle the Ramadi protest site in Anbar. In the subsequent confrontation, Alwani's brother was killed, leading to widespread public anger. Aiming to restore calm, Maliki ordered the withdrawal of the army from Anbar's cities, allowing insurgents to move into Fallujah and Ramadi. The verdict would seem to reflect ongoing influence of Maliki supporters in the judiciary despite Maliki's relegation to the largely symbolic position of vice-president.
Regardless of what one thinks of Alwani (and he is certainly a sectarian figure, as illustrated also by the extent to which Shammary lionizes him), the death sentence is unhelpful and only helps feed into rejectionist Sunni insurgent narrative, a discourse to which the Islamic Army has generally shifted since the summer of this year, reiterated in this statement in affirming the need for Sunni self-rule, which is also to include rule over Baghdad at this point, even though not explicitly mentioned here. Rejectionism is particularly vindicated by the impunity with which Shi'a militias can now operate, as noted in the statement.
The second statement is directed against Turkey in regards to Turkish PM Davutoglu's recent visit to Baghdad. Although there are still very clear divisions between Ankara and Baghdad on the subject of Kurdish oil exports to Turkey, Davutoglu nonetheless seemed to express appreciation at Hayder Abadi's ostensible image of greater inclusiveness of Sunnis than Maliki. This attracts the ire of Dr. Shammary, who plays on the prior ties that Turkey had developed with e.g. the Nujaifi family to say that Sunnis alone are Turkey's allies in Iraq.
Statement [1] (original here)
[...]
Since the tribulation of Iraq under the rule of the Shi'a clique that the evil American occupation brought with it in its enmity and handed the bastions of rule, it has happened and continues to happen that this clique is committing hundreds of monstrous crimes on a daily basis...Indeed that ruling authority has brought into legislation a group of oppressive laws from which they have been made to target the indigenous people of Iraq and the builders of their state: that is, the Ahl al-Sunna and whosoever live with them and bear their own customs. Among these laws is the Terrorism Law 4 [a key grievance of last year's Sunni protest movement] that actually means Sunni Law 4 for since its passing as legislation, its authority has only put on trial the Ahl al-Sunna for you will not find over the course of the past ten years a single Shi'i who has been put on trial on the basis of it despite the many great crimes that the world has witnessed on the part of the Shi'a militias that are spreading in every region from Syria to Yemen, killing, stealing and plundering.
In circumstances like these has come the unjust ruling against the former MP Dr. Ahmad al-Alwani, who was in the vanguard of prominent personalities, senior figures and capable persons of Anbari society, which responded to the movement of mass rage. So he came out in the forefront of the squares and was united with the best of his people united in their courage in the face of these terrible circumstances in which the Ahl al-Sunna were living, kicking at the beginnings of their political process and its failed outcome. Ahmad al-Alwani will remain a symbol for unity, courage and heroism, and he will live a longer life than all those who have conspired against his life [...]
If anyone arrests Ahmad al-Alwani and rules against him, he rules against himself and the failed political process that has come with him since their law made Dr. Ahmad al-Alwani an MP and he has immunity, so how can he be arrested? For whosoever puts in place a law and does not respect it cannot expect that others will respect it. And this is what was meant by: we are living in a world that does not even bear resemblance to the forests in which wild beasts live. For even those forests have their natural law under which they reside.
As for the fact that man is turning to this worsening state of savagery, that is a life predatory beasts disdain to live like. Indeed the state of Dr. Ahmad al-Alwani and his cause are the cause of all the Ahl al-Sunna who are suffering under the rule of this gang, and there is no respite except through freedom, self-liberation and life in the shadow of Sunni rule governing the Ahl al-Sunna with justice and wisdom just as their Lord wishes for them far removed from the dominion of the oppressors and the hostility of those who transgress limits.
[...]
Dr. Ibrahim al-Shammary,
Jamaat al-Jaysh al-Islami fi Iraq
24-11-2014/2 Safr 1436 AH.
Statement [2] (original here)
Turkey only sees in Iraq its economic interests and in exchange for that is prepared to grant bonds to anyone who wants them even at the expense of our corpses and blood. Davutoglu visited us and praised the Shi'a government saying that he found it to be a government representing all Iraqis! Did he not know of the hundreds of daily massacres it is committing against us? Turkey must know that its true friends in Iraq are the Ahl al-Sunna, and if they are not strong in Baghdad, Turkey will obtain nothing. Indeed the vital space for Turkish political influence must come to Baghdad. Turkey must stop looking under its feet and read well the lesson of history and geography. Indeed already Iranian political influence has been able to increase its vital space all the way to the Mediterranean [i.e. influence in Syria], the Red Sea [presumably referring to Yemen vis-a-vis the Houthis], the Gulf of Oman, while Turkey is not even able to secure its southern borders.
Dr. Ibrahim al-Shammary