Uncuffing Iraqi women and children after his colleagues handcuffed them with plastic ties during a night raid in Habaniyah

FALLUJAH, Iraq, June 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As the Iraqi resistance exacted heavy toll on the U.S. troops in Iraq recently, U.S. and Iraqi officials claimed that former members from the Baath Party and loyalists to ousted President Saddam Hussein organized a network called "Al-Awdah" (or the Return) to drive the U.S. troops out of the country, as a conflagration has broken out in a strategic oil pipeline Sunday, June 22.

According to the officials, the group has been assembled by Iraqis who possessed funds, weapons, transportation, listening devices and informants at the end of the war, The Washington Post said. 

They further claimed that the Iraqis retained the equipment provided to them by the former regime, noting that although the hierarchical structure of Saddam's security and political agencies had been broken, the relationships among secret police, intelligence officials and Baathists endure.

The group entrenched themselves in the central Iraqi city of Fallujah dominated by Sunni Muslims, the officials said.

"The Return is one of the facets of resistance. It is mainly former security forces. They come in and shoot an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] and race out of town before we can get a shot off," said Capt. John Ives, from the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division.

"It's harder for us to identify them. People in Fallujah don't know who they are," he added.

"The Return is operating here…They are people who had power under the old regime. They have the weapons to cause trouble. They dream of coming back," said Taha Bedaiwi Alwani, the U.S.-supported mayor of Fallujah.

Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of 4th Infantry Division, recently identified the Return as one of the groups organizing attacks against U.S. troops. The others were the Snake Party and the New Return. But he called the assaults on U.S. troops "militarily insignificant."

A report by IslamOnline.net June 14, from the Iraqi capital, citing eyewitnesses and Iraqi doctors, however contradicted the claims of the U.S. officials about the sources of Iraqi resistance.

"But, they are not Baathist officers. They opposed Saddam regime but they more strongly oppose the American occupation of their country," Abu Khaled told IOL.

He anticipated that the resistance of the American occupation has not yet gained its full momentum and is just at the very beginning.

Funding

U.S. troops in Iraq on maximum alert as resistance gains momentum

Some of the group's funding comes from wealthy families in the Sunni belt, the Post said.

One former Iraqi general, who asked that his name not be used, said that sponsors were paying the equivalent of $1,000 for new recruits and $3,000 to members who bring in other candidates.

"They only want trained people," the former general said. "They don't love Saddam. The idea is to kick out the Americans and get back in charge."

"We detect a trend in trying to make less attacks but do them more effectively to make a bigger impact," said a U.S. military intelligence specialist. "It's very secretive. They move from town to town. Still, their skill is not so great. But they try hard."

Paul Bremer, the civilian administrator of Iraq, told reporters at a conference in Jordan on Sunday that "we so far don't see signs of command and control in these attacks," adding that it appears largely to be small groups of five to 10 people.

But IslamOnline.net revealed in an exclusive report on Saturday, June 21, that a former Brig. Gen. with the disbanded Iraqi army asserted that the Iraqi resistance had in its possession Al-Samoud 2 missiles left behind by the ousted Iraqi regime. He said he saw the missiles installed near a U.S. military base, 15km from Baghdad airport, which hosts the largest airfield of U.S. Apache and Cobra helicopters and a myriad of tanks and armored vehicles.

A message e-mailed to IOL also on Saturday, attributed to the Iraqi resistance, said its fighters had recently launched 14 al-Samoud 2 missiles at the camp of the U.S. occupation soldiers, destroying 23 helicopters, killing more than 20 soldiers and officers and injuring 30 others.

The U.S. troops in Iraq have launched a sweeping operation called "Desert Scorpion" to crush the armed Iraqi resistance. 

For a week, thousands of troops have raided Baghdad, Tikrit, Fallujah, Ramadi, Baqubah, Thuluya and other towns in central Iraq on the hunt for Iraqi fighters and arms.

The U.S. occupation forces became terrifically cautious about escalating Iraqi resistance activity.

Noticeably, U.S. military patrols in the Iraqi capital increased from 700 to 2000 , and checkpoints doubled as part of precautionary measures.

Pipeline On Fire

Meanwhile, an explosion has occurred in an oil pipeline northwest of Baghdad, a U.S. army spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Sunday, adding that the cause of the blast was still unknown.

The site of the blast was around 10 kilometers (six miles) from Hit, some 150 kilometers from Baghdad.

"There was a pipeline explosion northwest of Baghdad near the town of Hit. There are no reported U.S. casualties," Sergeant First Class Mayra O'Neil said, adding that the cause was under investigation.

"All we know is that there was an explosion. The pipeline may still be burning," she added.

Aljazeera satellite channel said that the pipeline is one of the strategic lines in the oil-rich country.

Iraq was due to resume oil exports Sunday after a three-month halt due to the U.S.-led war.

An oil pipeline between Iraq and Turkey, the main export route from the country's northern fields, was damaged earlier this month.

Residents said the blazes were sparked by twin bomb attacks on the same day Iraq awarded its first post-war oil export contracts and were aimed at sabotaging deliveries which the U.S.-led forces is poised to resume.