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Qaeda wants US to invade Iran
A US military operation against Iran will play into the hands of Americas worst enemies according to Bruce Riedel of the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy, a leading think tank.He wrote on the interactive Washington Post site that Al Qaeda saw a war between America and Iran as its fondest dream come true. A war between the United States and Iran would be a tremendous strategic victory for Al Qaeda and anti-American forces because two of their most deadly enemies would stop each other. The Sunni Arab jihadi community would kill two birds with one stone, he added. Riedel noted that last month the new head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Omar Al Baghdadi, issued a statement welcoming the surge of more American troops into Iraq. He said he looked forward to an American nuclear attack on Iran. For Al Qaeda, the American occupation of Iraq has been an opportunity to attack US forces in territory sympathetic to the terrorists. Osama welcomed the US invasion four years ago, and his lieutenants have openly called the occupation the best opportunity they have had since 9/11 to strike at Americans. The Middle East commentator pointed out that, for Al Qaeda, the downside of the American occupation of Iraq has been the increase in Irans influence in the region. Last November, another Al Qaeda leader in Iraq complained that, The stupid Bush revived the glory of the old Persian Empire in a very short period of time. The Sunni terrorists have deliberately sought to provoke a civil war between Iraqi Sunni and Shiite Muslims to create the quandary they hope will bring America to defeat, he wrote. However, they have been alarmed at the consequent growth in Tehrans influence in the country. According to Riedel, War between the Crusaders and the Safavids, as they call it, will only benefit the jihad against both. Al Qaeda would best be served by a full-scale invasion and occupation, similar to that in Iraq, which would expand the battlefield available to work against the US all the way from the Anbar province in the west to the Khyber Pass in the east. However, they seem to understand that the American military is already too over stretched to offer such an opening. Thus, they expect us to use nuclear weapons on Iran and have told Sunnis to evacuate towns close to N-installations. Posted by: Fred 2007-03-13 |
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