Aug 14 2007
al-Qaeda’s B-Team – Any Good? Not Likely
The liberal media, grasping for some dark cloud in the silver lining now spreading in Iraq, is now worried that al-Qaeda’s B-Team is ready to go and just as potent:
U.S. and Iraqi units have killed or captured nearly 20 senior al Qaeda leaders in Iraq since July 1, but if the past is any indication, Osama bin Laden will be able to quickly replace his emirs.
The command in Baghdad has put out a steady stream of news releases during the ongoing troop surge, listing the names and duties of high-ranking al Qaeda operatives who have been killed or detained.
The public relations onslaught leaves the impression of a terrorist group on the run. Even some skeptical intelligence officers in Iraq are starting to believe that al Qaeda, which is the insurgent group responsible for the worst mass-casualty bombings, can ultimately be defeated in Iraq, military officials say.
…
But the command also has detected a new influx of al Qaeda terrorists as replacements. “We have seen indications that al Qaeda has actually sent more people into Iraq to try to shore up the al Qaeda in Iraq network,†Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, chief military spokesman in Baghdad, said last week.
Al Qaeda’s replenishment record is clear. When a 2006 U.S. airstrike killed Abu Musab Zarqawi, the terrorist group’s Iraq leader, a successor was near at hand: Egyptian Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
I liked the part where even the anti-Bush intelligence establishment is starting to believe. But let’s be accurate here – the record is crystal clear. al-Qaeda as been flowing replacements into Iraq for months, and the result is more and more Iraqis taking up arms to destroy them. al-Qaeda has been driven from their two large sanctuaries in Anbar and Diyala because the local Muslim community has rejected them. We supply the security to make that rejections stick, but Iraqis are not welcoming al-Qaeda into their country. In fact al-Qaeda is killing more Muslims than anyone – as I recently noted.
This is not a battle of replacements or army sizes – if it is then we have already won. al-Qaeda’s B-Team is in full retreat. The reason al-Qaeda needs to stem the hemorrhaging in Iraq is it will lose all its support in the Muslim world if it loses Iraq. al-Qaeda is on the ropes from a PR standpoint. They are now the ones killing Muslims right and left and this is not to stop us but to cower the Iraqis into accepting al-Qaeda rule. If the Iraqis decide to throw off al-Qaeda and do so, it would be akin to Germans standing up and throwing off the Nazis after years of cowering submission. Make no mistake about it, the B-Team (and who knows, maybe this is the C-Team) is not going to change the hearts and minds of the Iraqis – they want al-Qaeda destroyed. They have sworn on the Koran to do as much, and Iraqis are a very educated, skilled and deadly group of people.
AQI is quickly reaching the point where they need to stand up and fight or leave. They will remain dangerous, but over the course of the next six months I see them becoming irrelevant as a major security threat in Iraq. They will be a nuisance but will not have the ability to destabilize the country. That role will increasingly be going to Iran as Iran attempts to dominate the Shiites, Shiite theology and Shiite holy sites in Iraq.
The battle battle between Najaf and Qom as the center of global Shiite thought is underway.
CP:
I read that Sistani is not a fan of the mullahs, it seems he belongs to a different sect. So the Shia are not that cohesive and that will make it more difficult for Iran. It also might begin to dawn on the Iraqi Shia who are Arab that they do not want to be dominated by the Persian Shia.
I just started to read Paul Fregosi’s book, “Jihad”. Wow! It was published in 1998 and there were attempts to censor it even back then. Paul is brutally truthful and honest about Muhammad. He says that Jihad means the worldwide Caliphate. So far, I recommend that you read this book.