The Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) ( al jaysh al islāmi fī'l-`irāq) was one of a number of underground Islamist militant (or mujahideen) organizations formed in Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S.-led Coalition forces, and the subsequent collapse of the Ba'athist regime headed by Saddam Hussein. Although it carries an Islamic title, the group combines Sunni Islamism with Iraqi nationalism, and has been labelled as "resistance" by Iraq's Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi (sentenced to death in 2012) despite Tariq al-Hashemi's close relations with the U.S. government. Following the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq in late 2011, the IAI demobilized and turned towards political activism, setting up the Sunni Popular Movement. The group’s turn away from armed opposition towards activism was criticised by other militant groups, including groups that the IAI had previously allied with such as the Mujahideen Army. Since the beginning of 2014, however, the group has been active in the ongoing anti-government violence in Anbar and Northern Iraq. The group is primarily active in the Diyala and Saladin Governorates. Most of its fighters have renounced fighting against the Iraqi state, although some have joined ISIS. Roots and ideology The precise details about the emergence of the IAI are unclear, although it is generally assumed that the group was established in the late summer of 2003 to fight Coalition forces. Men from Sunni strongholds such as Ramadi, Fallujah and Baqubah who were skilled soldiers from the elite Republican Guard, Fedayeen Saddam, and the Iraqi Intelligence Service formed and joined the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI). When the IAI first formed, it used kidnapping as a means of pursuing its goals. The group also threatened to target the January 2005 elections, although it didn't carry out any such attack. Unlike most terrorist organizations today, the IAI does not have Salafist tendencies, its primary focus and goal being the expulsion of foreign troops from Iraq. A November 2004 Washington Post interview with the group's leader, Ishmael Jubouri, stated that the IAI was predominantly composed of Iraqis (Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, and Arabs) trying to force foreign troops out of Iraq. The Terrorism Monitor put out by The Jamestown Foundation confirms some of what Jubouri was claiming. In a March 2005 article, the monitor said the group was composed primarily of Sunnis with a small Shiite congregation and, in general, was "[an] inclusive Islamic organization with Iraqi nationalist tendencies."