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Iraqi media reports indicate that there are some 200 political groups active in Iraq today. This compilation seeks to provide insight into the diverse leanings of political groups currently emerging in Iraq. It is by no means meant to be a comprehensive list of all Iraqi political groups.

Ahl Al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a. The Ahl Al-Sunna wa Al-Jama'a is an umbrella organization that claims to coordinate the actions and political platforms of various Sunni religious movements; its 230 members include Kurds and Turkomans, as well as Arabs. Although it explicitly supports an Islamic government, the group is more moderate than the Hayat Al-Ulama Al-Muslimin, with which it competes to represent Iraqi Sunnis, although several individuals sit on both councils.

Assyrian Democratic Movement. Established in 1979, this group began actively struggling against the Hussein regime in 1982. It is headed by Yonadam Kanna. The movement's website (http://www.zowaa.org) describes it as "a democratic and political organization -- national and patriotic -- to defend our people and their legitimate rights and to struggle under the banner of [a] free democratic Iraq." Calls for official recognition of Assyrian rights and the "unity of our people under their several identities": Chaldean, Syriac, and Assyrian. The group supports the idea of a federal Iraq, and is on good relations with other Assyrian and Kurdish groups present in northern Iraq, as well as with Shi'a leaders in southern Iraq. The movement is also represented in the Kurdistan parliament. Kanna was afforded a seat on the Iraqi Governing Council. His group has been targeted by militants on several occasions since the fall of the Hussein regime. Operates Assyrian Radio.

Assyrian National Congress. Established in 1983, this group acts as an umbrella group for the Bet Nahrain Democratic Party and the Assyrian American Leadership Council. In 2002, the group entered into an alliance with the Iraqi Free Officers and Civilians Movement, headed by Najib al-Salihi to "continue the struggle towards a united democratic and free Iraq." Like the Assyrian Patriotic Party, the congress was critical of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) in the late 1990s for its neglect of Assyrians as a community in opposition to President Hussein. The political arm of the congress is the Assyrian United Front. The group's website is http://www.bndp.net/anc/.

Assyrian Patriotic Party. Established in 1973 in Baghdad, this party entered into an official alliance with the Assyrian Democratic Movement in 1991. The party is based in Dahuk, northern Iraq. Problems with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) reportedly surfaced in 1999, when the KDP closed the party's offices for four days. The party was critical of the Iraqi National Congress in that year for its apparent disregard for the Assyrian role in the opposition. Albert Yelda and Nimrud Baito are among the group's leaders.

Assyrian Socialist Party. The party's website (http://asp2.no.sapo.pt) says this group was re-founded in 2002 by Assyrians in northern Iraq. The party identifies itself as "socialist and democratic" with the aim of "resuscitating an Assyrian nation for Assyrian people in an independent and popular republic." "The Assyrian Socialist Party stands for socialism and democracy, fundamental change in this rotten capitalist and clerico-medieval system in the Middle East, and social democracy organized on democratic lines, where people are able to take control of their own lives," the website further claims.