Radio War Nerd EP #624 — Iraqi Insurgency, Pt 4: Spring 2006, feat. Rob Ashlar
Guest: Rob Ashlar
Recorded: July 25, 2026
Researcher Rob Ashlar continues his series with us on the Iraq insurgency, which had a powerful influence on jihadi insurgencies and politics ever since. In this episode, Rob takes us through the spring of 2006, as AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) and its umbrella head MSC (Mujahideen Shura Council) establish control over Anbar with their capital in Ramadi, the prototype for the later Islamic State caliphate. We also see the first tensions between the future-ISIS and Al Qaeda Central.
*First - Ames updates the War Nerd's odyssey + Iran/Yemen brief
At 14:20 - Rob Ashlar joins, resuming his Iraqi Insurgency series
Subscribe to Rob Ashlar's substack. Follow Rob on Twitter here.
Read Rob Ashlar's article "Monotheism and Struggle: The Story of Iraqi Insurgency, 2003-04" in Cosmonaut.
Further listening:
-RWN #458 — Iraqi Insurgency, Pt 1: 2003-4
-RWN #459 — Iraq Insurgency, Pt 2: 2005
-RWN #622 — Iraqi Insurgency, Pt 3: Early 2006
*Key Acronyms & Names for this episode:
-Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ("Zarqawi"): leader of JTJ (Jama'at al-Tawhid wa-l Jihad), then Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)
-ISI: Islamic State in Iraq, formed in 2006 rooted in Zarqawi's AQI. First of the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, IS-KP etc) groups
-AQI: Al Qaeda in Iraq, formed in 2004 by Zarqawi, folded into Islamic State in Iraq after Zarqawi's death
-AQC: Al Qaeda Central, led by Osama bin Laden
-MSC - Mujahideen Shura Council, political umbrella including Zarqawi's org, transition group to Islamic State
*Maps
Total time: 1:27:11
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Buy John Dolan's book, They Should Have Been Hanged: War Nerd Essays on the U.S. Civil War
Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd
Sound production by Telescope Audio
Comments (16)
Informative
Great episode - quick question: what's the deal with Jordan? I know Iran has recently hit US assets based in Jordan, but otherwise it seems strangely quiet? Would love any insight on this
What’s the author that Rob recommends? The one who talks about the Salafist international?
Nibras Kazimi
Jihad Rob never fails to deliver
This understanding of sectarian violence as something political, historically contingent, and emergent in response to (rather than an inevitable cause of) societal collapse is really important. The same thing happened in Yugoslavia, with the worst atrocities happening in Bosnia since like how Rob describes Baghdad, it had the most mixed society prewar.
“Casino” staring Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as Nicky Santoro and Ayman al-Zawahiri as Remo Gaggi
As a Rochesterian myself, I'd like to weigh in to say: anyone who gave you a gave you a hard time for ragging on Rochester is not a true Rochesterian. Separately, this is a cool city. I believe that the last speech anyone ever recorded of Malcolm X was made here on February 16, 1965 (five days before his assassination and two days *after* his more famous speech in Detroit, which is often cited as his "last") https://www.mixcloud.com/boomtownpress/malcolm-x-1965-rochester-speech/
I just thought the tunnels were cool. Thanks for sharing the history about the speech
*fixed the brief blank at 30:00
I’m from the same area of the bay as the War Nerd and have little to no New York knowledge. I know University of Rochester as also having one of the highest ranked quant-oriented Polisci grad programs as well. Make of that what you will
I love the series I love the content The audio quality of Rob's vocals was terrible on this one. Really detracts from the information. I stopped listening.
He needs to put some of his Cosmonaut dollars towards a voice coach to correct his pitch, timbre, and sonority.
Audio cuts out around 30:00 for some reason
Why do so many twitter randos call this guy isis rob? Seems strange based on his writings
because that website is an incubator for insanity now more than ever Lol!