Iraqi militants

The Iraqi resistance is composed of over a dozen major insurgent organizations and countless smaller cells. It can be subdivided into three main ideological strands: Ba'athism, nationalism, and Islamism.

The Ba'athists are composed of former Ba'ath Party officials, the Fedayeen Saddam, and some former agents of the Iraqi intelligence and security services. Their goal, at least before the capture of Saddam Hussein, was the restoration of the former Ba'athist regime to power.

The nationalists are composed of former members of the Iraqi military as well as some ordinary Iraqis. Their reasons for opposing the occupation vary between a rejection of the foreign presence as a matter of principle to U.S failure to restore security and basic services or quickly hand over power. Many Iraqis who have had relatives killed by American soldiers may also be involved in the nationalist resistance as part of the Iraqi code of tribal revenge. Beyond the expulsion of U.S troops from Iraq, there is no coherent political goal being pursued by the Iraqi guerillas fighting under the banner of nationalism.