In a last ditch effort to stem the rising backlash that is building across Islam in response to the numerous and brutal atrocities al-Qaeda has inflicted on Iraqi Muslims Bin Laden is pleading from his besieged hideout for terrorists to stop terrorizing:

Osama bin Laden called for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive “extremism,” speaking in an audiotape aired Monday and apparently intended to win over Sunnis opposed to al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq.

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“I advise myself, Muslims in general and brothers in al-Qaida everywhere to avoid extremism among men and groups,” he said, saying leaders should not build themselves up as the sole authority, and that instead mujahedeen should follow “what God and his prophet have said.”

The blood of tens of thousands of Iraqis have been shed by al-Qaeda inspired groups – there is no way Iraqis can simply forgive and forget. And, as I noted in my post below, where al-Qaeda operates bloodshed follows and those areas where they have been purged peace ensues.

The pleading is for unity as well as an end to the mindless killing. The plea seems more to be a cry to circle the wagons and save Bin Laden’s cause:

Bin Laden said in the audio tape that the “interest of the Islamic nation surpasses that of a group … the interest of the [Islamic] nation is more important than that of a state. The strength of faith is in the strength of the bond between Muslims and not that of a tribe, nationalism or an organisation.

This pleading reminds me of similar pronouncements from another war against Facism early in the last century:

On 23 April, after committing to stay in Berlin with Hitler, Joseph Goebbels made the following proclamation to the people of Berlin:

“I call on you to fight for your city. Fight with everything you have got, for the sake of your wives and your children, your mothers and your parents. Your arms are defending everything we have ever held dear, and all the generations that will come after us. Be proud and courageous! Be inventive and cunning! Your Gauleiter is amongst you. He and his colleagues will remain in your midst. His wife and children are here as well. He, who once captured the city with 200 men, will now use every means to galvanize the defense of the capital. The battle for Berlin must become the signal for the whole nation to rise up in battle…”

The fact is al-Qaeda has lost Iraq and much of the Muslim street with it. The Muslim blood on their hands is impossible to miss (though many liberals seem quite able to miss it anyway). But the fact is al-Qaeda is being squeezed back into the lawless regions of Pakistan – where they are about to meet Allah:

An all-out battle for control of Pakistan’s restive North and South Waziristan is about to commence between the Pakistani military and the Taliban and al-Qaeda adherents who have made these tribal areas their own.

According to a top Pakistani security official who spoke to Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity, the goal this time is to pacify the Waziristans once and for all. All previous military operations – usually spurred by intelligence provided by the Western coalition – have had limited objectives, aimed at specific bases or sanctuaries or blocking the cross-border movement of guerrillas. Now the military is going for broke to break the back of the Taliban and a-Qaeda in Pakistan and reclaim the entire area.

The fighting that erupted two weeks ago, and that has continued with bombing raids against guerrilla bases in North Waziristan – turning thousands of families into refugees and killing more people than any India-Pakistan war in the past 60 years – is but a precursor of the bloodiest battle that is coming.

Just as al-Qaeda in Iraq was chased into ever shrinking areas of operation, only to be surrounded and eliminated, the same is happening on a larger, regional scale.

The divisions among the extremists factions which were evident in the early stages of things turning around in Iraq are now also evident in the lawless areas of Pakistan. Local Taliban, well aware their existence is at risk with foreign fighters hiding out amongst them, are turning on the terrorists just as the Sunnis turned on al-Qaeda in Anbar and Diyala Provinces in Iraq:

Local Taliban led by Mullah Nazir Wazir had launched a crackdown against foreign militants in the area and some local people who extended support to them also escaped to avoid action. The jirga members demanded that the fleeing tribesmen should return and assure people of the area that they would not extend support to foreign militants in future.

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A rift has been developed between the locals and Uzbeks present in the North Waziristan region, the sources said here Monday. “The locals have conviction that the foreign fighters are responsible for the recent deaths of villagers,” they said. The sources said this was a bone of contention between the locals and the terrorist elements. It has also been learnt that locals are planning to call a Jirga to set up a deadline for foreigners to leave the area, failing which locals have threatened the use of arms to flush them out from the disturbed region, they added.

The Surge of forces for Pakistan is in place with 80-90,000 troops surrounding the area, and a line of NATO troops along the Afghan border to the North to stop any large scale escapes. The noose is tightening around the people behind 9-11 and many other acts of terrorism before and since then.

If there is any doubt to what is coming it should be noted the US is preparing $60 million in aid to pump into the region aftewards. There are also shipments of key arms heading to Pakistan as well.

And the Pakistanis are preparing for an interim government which will lead the battle and begin the healing process so the new government, coming in 2008, can take over without efficiently. All this points to the potential for one large push into these lawless areas to eradicate and cripple the al-Qaede movement (and many of its splinter groups). It will not kill it off – we still see the spectacle of skin heads and swastikas to this day. But an attack that takes out the core leadership and the last of the seasoned fighters would put a serious hurt on al-Qaeda and its ability to attack the West. Especially if the Muslim street also turns against them at the same time.