The Mujahideen Shura Council is an umbrella organization made up of Jihadist groups in Iraq, including al-Qaeda Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers. <P><br />The name Mujahideen Shura Council first emerged in spring 2005 in connection with the kidnapping of Australian citizen Douglas Wood. Wood was a contractor with the American construction firm Bechtel and was abducted by a group calling themselves the "Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq." The group demanded the removal of coalition forces from Iraq. After being held in captivity for weeks, Wood was apparently freed by Iraqi forces in an operation in June 2005. <P><br />Despite the high-profile nature of this incident, not much was known about the Council at the time. Kidnapping of foreigners is extremely common in post-war Iraq, and numerous groups have claimed responsibility for abductions. After the Wood kidnapping, the Council did not claim another attack for several months.  <P><br />However, in January 2006, a group of six Sunni insurgent groups announced that they were joining forces to form the Mujahideen Shura Council. The stated purpose of the Council was "Managing the struggle in the battle of confrontation to ward off the invading infidels and their apostate stooges...Uniting the word of the mujahideen and closing their ranks...(and) Determining a clear position toward developments and incidents so that people can see things clearly and the truth will not be confused with falsehood." <P><br />The groups that formed the council included: al-Qaeda Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers, Jaish al-Taifa al-Mansoura, al-Ahwal Brigades, Islamic Jihad Brigades, al-Ghuraba Brigades, and Saraya Ansar al-Tawhid. <P><br />Out of the six groups, only al-Qaeda and Jaish al-Taifa al-Mansoura had been responsible for any large scale-operations. It should also be noted that the perpetrators responsible for the Wood kidnapping were probably members of one of these six organizations. Mujahideen Shura Council is a somewhat generic name, "shura" being an Islamic political concept meaning "consultation." <P><br />The formation of the Council is clearly an attempt to unify insurgent efforts against Iraqi and US forces. Some analysts believe it also to be a reaction to, or a reflection of, a rift between the numerous Sunni insurgent groups. At the time of its formation, the groups represented in the Council were all unified by an extremist Salafi ideology, separating themselves from other less extreme Islamist and nationalist organizations. <P><br />However, scarcely a week after the Council's formation, a seventh group, Army of al-Sunnah Wal Jama'a, publicly asked to join the Council. In their request, the group urged all other insurgent organizations, including several more nationalist oriented groups such as the Twentieth Revolution Brigades, to join the Council with them. The Council quickly accepted Army of al-Sunnah Wal Jama'a's request stating that "the door is open to anyone who wants to join." This response could imply that the Council is more concerned with unity rather than the dominance of its Salafi ideology amongst the insurgents. Some have speculated that the formation of the Council was also in response to a growing distaste for operations undertook by al-Qaeda and the Zarqawi network. Al-Qaeda has been criticized for its extremely vicious tactics and its targeting of innocent Iraqi civilians. By creating the Council, al-Qaeda can continue its operations without having to claim direct responsibility for its violent actions. Furthermore, when the Council was formed a statement on a Jihadist website announced that Zarqawi had stepped aside as "emir" of the Council in favor of an Iraqi named Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi. This statement is likely symbolic, but shows a recognition of the growing discontent with "foreign" elements of the Iraqi insurgency. <br /><br />