Just In Case You Need A Reminder Of What Is At Stake In Iraq
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Featured Stories | War — Comments (11) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Here is something worth reading--again:
AT least one of the suspects being quizzed over the alleged plot to set off car bombs in Britain was in recent contact with Al-Qaeda in Iraq, senior security officials said yesterday.
Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command SO15 is understood to have uncovered evidence that in the months leading up to the attacks one or more of the suspects communicated by telephone or e-mail with terrorist leaders in Iraq.
The development has fuelled a theory that the failed attacks in London and Glasgow were designed as a farewell to Tony Blair to punish him for his role in Iraq. Details of the Al-Qaeda role in the three failed car bombings are expected to emerge over the next few days.
The development suggests that intelligence received by MI5 earlier this year about a possible Al-Qaeda attack to mark Blair's departure was accurate. A report in April by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) warned that a senior Iraqi Al-Qaeda commander had outlined details of a big attack on Britain.
The report said the commander "stressed the need to take care to ensure the attack was successful and on a large scale". It was aimed "ideally" to take place before Blair stepped down. It said JTAC, which is based at MI5's London headquarters, was "aware that AQI [Al-Qaeda in Iraq] . . . networks are active in the UK".
The group is said to be led by a mysterious Egyptian known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri. He took over from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who was killed during an American airstrike last year.
You know all those people who said that if we fail in Iraq, al Qaeda will use the country as a launching pad for terrorist attacks on Western soil? Remember them? Sure you do. And maybe now it is time for all of us to admit that they might have had a point.
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Just In Case You Need A Reminder Of What Is At Stake In Iraq 11 Comments (0 topical, 11 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
I'm a bit confused as to how these most recent attacks support the idea that "if we fail in Iraq, al Qaeda will use the country as a launching pad for terrorist attacks on Western soil". Since we haven't "failed" in Iraq, this just doesn't make any sense.
It seems as though the attacks (and information behind them) lend more weight to the idea that al Queda is using the polarizing conflict in Iraq to recruit and build strength. This would explain why al Queda in Iraq has the resources and manpower to strike at other parts of the world.
-Thesis
...prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, what was the reason for AQ building a base in Afganistan and launching numerous attacks since 1993 against our country (culminating in 9/11), both here and abroad? Not to mention Iran's sponsored attack via Hezbollah in 1983. Iraq is not the cause nor the rallying catalyst. AQ and Iran and her subordinates have been very clear over the years that their intention is to defeat "The Great Satan" and they have acted accordingly. AQ will use whatever situation it can (Iraq, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict... whatever) to muster support against the secular west and Israel. Their declared aggression is too often ignored while so many search for the "root" causes.
My point is that whether we fight now in Iraq or withdraw, this enemy is not going away.
respectfully,
Jack
The World's Ruined
Jack, the Iraq war is just the latest of a long line of American meddling in the middle east, starting with our overthrow of Mossadeq in the 1950s. Why do we keep giving the extremists new excuses? All we have to do is follow a pro-liberty foreign policy of non-intervention, like the Founding Fathers intended (I know, they weren't perfect--but they definitely had that part right). I suspect we wouldn't have much of a problem with Islamic terrorists if we simply brought ALL American troops back home from wherever they currently are around the world and ended ALL foreign aid and entangling alliances, including the one we have with Israel. If we take away everything that even appears to be a legitimate excuse, the extremists won't have a leg to stand on. They'll be subdued by their fellow non-extremist Muslims, and there certainly wouldn't be much fodder left for recruiting new terrorists.
No Coercion (http://nocoercion.wordpress.com)
I think their motivations do not spring out of our foreign policy "meddlings." Their own words undercut your thesis. I am not going to go into detail. There is much information out there to support what I am saying. And what evidence is there that they'll be subdued by their fellow "non-extremist" Muslims?
It seems we disagree on what is fundamentally fueling radical Islam.
best regards,
Jack
The World's Ruined
I completely agree that the Iraq invasion is not the root cause of al Queda agression, and you're completely right in saying that the threat won't go away. I was merely pointing out why we're seeing attacks from Iraq to the west at this point. Iraq may not be the cause, but it certainly makes sense that al Queda is exploiting the situation in Iraq to expand their power base. This explains why the base of operations may be moving into Iraq as it would be easier to recruit in the current situation of the country.
... it just lends absolutely no support to the idea that failing in Iraq will bring disaster since any attacks we see now are not a result of "failure", but instead of the struggle itself.
-Thesis
While it is true that we have not yet failed in Iraq, neither have we yet suceeded: Al Quaeda is there and continues to operate fairly freely. Until we and the Iraquis have established the means to defeat them and drive them out, they will continue to operate there. If we leave before we establish that capability, Al Queda topples the current regime and replaces it with a Taliban style government. From which they begin developing and deploying more jihadis to wreak havoc here on the good old mainland. Only this time, instad of being backed only by the narco-profits from the heroin trade, they will be backed by pertrol profits, as well as having access to direct trade routes and trade security information.
So we are in complete disagreement. Al Queda won't leave Iraq because we do. They'll count it as a victory and use it for more recruitment.
True enough that heroin is a major source of AQ funding. Why then during a GWOT have we just allowed a record harvest of Afghan heroin? Are we not serious about stopping terrorism?
Do you really think a few thousand mostly foreign AQ fighters can control the economic lifeblood (oil) of the entire Iraqi population for their own narrow and nefarious wishes? And if they could, do you honestly believ that the wells wouldn't be blown to smithereens within minutes even if America voted in a "withdraw immediately" candidate (except Kuccinich)!
Or maybe this should be a reminder that us being in Iraq is not, in fact, particularly effective at preventing terrorist attacks (and attempted attacks) in Western countries.
What's at stake is dealing with the billions Saudi Arabia annually pours into the global spread of Wahhabism (a fundamentalist, extremist version of Sunni Isalm.) Iraq, Chechnya, Serbia, Nigeria, etc., are all feeling the consequences of giving the Saudis a free pass on their substantial economic aid:
The making of a new terror
by Jamie Doward, Mark Townsend and Henry McDonald from The ObserverUltimately, though, it seems the suspects' main influences came from overseas groups, the Deobandi and Wahhabi sects that have flourished in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan thanks to their anti-Western message and their emphasis on sharia law. One prominent Wahhabi cleric, Ahmed al-Qubeisi, who advocates suicide bombings and the right of a man to beat his wife, is believed to have been a hero to at least one of the plotters.
I track the influence of Saudi Arabia & Wahhabism on my blog, Wahaudi
http://wahaudi.blogspot.com
keeping on getting the word out.
I have said it many times... these radical AQ/Islamists aren't going away. They are motivated by a world view that is based in the theological/ideological. Pulling back on our part is not a concession for a cessation of this conflict, but an encouragement to them to up the ante. Either take 'em on or, if we pull out of Iraq and give up being on the offensive, then take 'em on anyway after some more bad stuff (without a doubt) happens at some point down the line in the United States and Britain.
Keep the amplifier turned up.
Jack
The World's Ruined