A family man, the 32-year-old called home regularly. But he said little and resisted pleas for him
to return.
“He was looking for martyrdom. No matter who he would fight and no matter where, Afghanistan or Iraq, he was looking to be a martyr,” said one of his cousins, who asked not to be named.
One Friday in late February his father had just finished midday prayers when he noticed two missed calls on his mobile phone. He called back, and heard a curt message telling him that Mahmoud’s wish had been granted.
“Your son is dead. We regret we cannot send you his body. We request your permission to bury him in Iraq,” the voice said.
Harithi followed the same journey as many hundreds of Saudi men who are believed to have slipped away to fight in Iraq, angered by the US military occupation and driven by a desire to restore Muslim honour.
Together with other foreign fighters they have helped fuel a bloody insurgency by Baathists and Islamists trying to force American troops out of the country they invaded two years ago.
From time to time their secret, violent tales become public.
In January, Saudi newspapers reported that a young Saudi man had survived, bloodied and horribly burned, after driving a fuel truck carrying explosives into Baghdad on December 25.
Nine people died when the truck exploded but the militant, Ahmad Shayia, survived and were arrested, the papers said. His family in Saudi Arabia had already had a phone call telling them he was dead.
Iraq jihad
Harithi had a pious upbringing and attended meetings regularly at his local mosque after sunset prayers.
His family does not know exactly what prompted him to take up arms in Iraq, although he may well have been inspired by rhetoric at the mosque, and they begged him to reconsider. His father even told the Saudi authorities where his son was.
“He kept calling from Iraq. He said: ’I’m in Iraq. I’m on jihad’,” said the cousin. “They asked him to come back but he said he was afraid of being punished by the government.”
His family, who were not told where or how Mahmoud died, accepted condolences for the traditional three day period of mourning. “They were upset but they appeared proud their son had fought in Iraq,” said the cousin.
Saudi authorities have tried to stem the flow of jihadis heading for Iraq, tightening control at the border.
“There are tens of Saudis in jail because either they wanted to go to Iraq, were caught trying to get in or were collecting money for people going to Iraq,” said Mansour Nogaidan, a former militant who is now a critic of Saudi Arabia’s strict Wahhabi school -- blamed by some for inspiring anti-Western violence.
Militants have found other routes, mostly through Syria. Recent successes by Saudi security forces in their battle with Al Qaeda militants may have pushed more fighters towards Iraq.
One senior Saudi security official recently told a private gathering there may now be 1,500 Saudis in Iraq, Nogaidan said.
Fares Houzam, a researcher on Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, said he estimated up to 2,500 Saudis have travelled to Iraq since the US invasion in March 2003, 400 of whom may have died there.
“Every day somewhere in Saudi Arabia, in the north or the south, there is a family accepting condolences,” he said.
Saudi officials decline to say how many fighters may have slipped across into Iraq, but suggest numbers are much lower.
Sending more martyrs
Saleh al-Awfi, the suspected leader of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, has pledged to despatch more Saudis to Iraq.
“We will send you fighters and martyrdom seekers whenever you need them and you will find us a fortified castle and a strong shield,” Awfi wrote in a letter posted on the Internet.
Prominent Saudi Muslim scholars have stoked the fires, declaring support in November for the militants and saying holy war against occupiers was a duty. The statement, signed by 26 scholars, urged Muslims to “stand by their brothers in Iraq”.
Almost a generation ago, the government was also actively helping Saudis to join Muslim mujahideen in another jihad -- to expel Soviet forces from Afghanistan.
One man who heeded their call was the young Osama bin Laden.
When Soviet forces finally withdrew, bin Laden and other ”Afghan Arabs” began to look further afield. Many returned to their own countries, inspiring insurgents from Egypt to Algeria.
Saudi officials fear returning militants from Iraq could spell further trouble in the birthplace of Islam, where Al Qaeda supporters have carried out a series of attacks aimed at scaring away Westerners and undermining the pro-US royal family.
Islamist lawyer Mohsen Awajy said most Saudi militants in Iraq had “one-way tickets” and would most likely die there. But if any came back they could bring with them the more violent ideology of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda leader in Iraq.
“We are quite concerned about those who may return after the end of the conflict in Iraq with a new ideology even worse than the ideology which came from Afghanistan”.
Photo courtesy: rnw.nl
