Osama: Baghdad the "Epicenter" of Jihad
Osama bin Laden is correct when he states "success in Baghdad will be success for the US, failure in Iraq the failure of the US." It is imperative for the United States to make Iraq an Iraqi fight, and continue to encourage the political process while building up the capabilities of the security forces. The Iraqis are increasingly hunting and fighting al-Qaeda, as the terrorist tactics and Taliban rule of law are seen as foreign influences designed to tear the Iraqi nation apart. Insurgent groups in Anbar province, no friends of the Americans, have formed the Anbar Revenge Brigade to rid al-Qaeda from the region. This is but the latest development of "red-on-red" fighting between the insurgency and al-Qaeda.
The Iraqi Muslims' willingness to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq is an ideological dimension of the war that is virtually being ignored. al-Qaeda, however, recognizes how a stable Iraq threatens the plan to establish a regional and ultimately global Islamist caliphate. Note how bin Laden fears the establishment of democratic institutions, media outlets and U.S. basing in the region. For these reasons, bin Laden calls Iraq the "epicentre of these wars" and Zawahiri calls it "the place for the greatest battle of Islam in this era."
Read the whole thing.
| Permalink | 
