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Zarqawi's Political Strategy for US Election
 | Zarq's plan: he's writing letters to the voters of Clark County, Ohio. |
Islamist militants leading attacks on foreign troops in Iraq have announced an alliance with al-Qaeda, with the aim of influencing the US election result, experts on extremism say. Several Islamist websites broadcast a statement this week saying that militants led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who have claimed responsibility for numerous kidnappings and killings, have pledged allegiance to Great Caesar's ghost Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader. "The Zarqawi statement is timed to come just before the US election," a leading Islamist who follows the Iraqi groups closely said on Tuesday. "What they want to tell the American people is that Bush has turned Iraq into a battleground for al-Qaeda."
umm, hasn't Bush been saying exactly that? And that it is better to fight al-Qaeda there than here? And that this Iraq is central to the war on terror? And that this is why we must be committed in Iraq, not wishy-washy?
"The groups in Iraq want to show that al-Qaeda officially exists in Iraq," said Mustafa Alani, director of the security and terrorism centre at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. "These people are aren't stupid, and their political timing is certain to defeat their stated goal right. There's an agreement on timing between the jihadists in Iraq and al-Qaeda, but the link is ideological, not operational. There is no group in Iraq that is receiving orders from al-Qaeda," Mr Alani said. A dissident with links to Islamist groups said on Tuesday that the formation of the alliance with al-Qaeda was unlikely to radically alter the military capability of the insurgents. "But there must have been discussion with Osama bin Laden on this agreement," the dissident said. "Nobody below him would have been able to authorise it," he said, adding: "All jihadis are regarding Iraq as the main field of jihad. They are investing their human and other resources there. They are feeling that Iraq is going to be a turning point in the current history of the battle between the Muslims and the Americans."
Posted by: sludj 2004-10-20 |
