WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO START MAKING SENSE?:

Al Qaeda Talking Heads: Propaganda blitz by bin Laden, al-Zawahiri and al-Zarqawi may be aimed at hiding their weakness (Fawaz A. Gerges, 11 May 2006, YaleGlobal)

Al Qaeda’s leadership considers the Iraq war the most important step since September 11 in establishing their long-awaited Islamic state in the heart of the Muslim world. Before the American-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, the global war had not been going well for bin Laden; not even the ummah, the worldwide Muslim community, supported his cause. Al Qaeda had suffered crippling military blows and, with the 2001 fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, lost its refuge and political patron. Bluntly put, Al Qaeda was in a coma.

The war in Iraq revived Al Qaeda and provided the bin Laden network with a new cause, a second generation of recruits. Equally important, the American occupation of an Arab country in the heart of the Muslim world enabled Al Qaeda to make an ideological sales pitch to Muslims worldwide.

According to bin Laden, Iraq, seat of the historic Muslim caliphate, is the central battle of a Third World War, launched by the Crusader-Zionist coalition against the Muslim community: “The whole world is watching this war,” offering “a golden and unique opportunity” to bloody America and spread the conflict into neighboring Arab countries like Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian-Israeli front.

Little wonder, then, that bin Laden and his lieutenants are alarmed at early signs of political progress bringing Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders together to assemble a unity cabinet. Such a new political day would spell ruin for foreign militants like Al Qaeda; conceivably, Sunni Arabs would turn on the Zarqawi network. It’s happened already: In some towns, Sunni tribes killed scores of Zarqawi's men and chased others away. [...]

There is a pronounced urgency in the new propaganda blitz by Al Qaeda’s leaders. They sense danger in Iraq. By approaching the media, they hope to reaffirm their existence and inspire their sympathizers to continue the fight in Iraq and elsewhere. Although bin Laden and his men are waging a global struggle against the US and its allies, Iraq has emerged as the most pivotal theater. Al Qaeda barely survived the loss of its Afghan base; the loss of Iraq could prove to be more devastating.

So al Qaeda's strategy depended on a permanent US occupation of Iraq? Does their entire understanding of America come from the Leftwing press and House Democrats?

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 12, 2006 3:04 PM