Posted on 10/26/2006 11:01:59 AM PDT by Enchante
A total withdrawal from Iraq would play into the hands of the jihadist terrorists. As Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, made clear shortly after 9/11 in his book “Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner,” Al Qaeda’s most important short-term strategic goal is to seize control of a state, or part of a state, somewhere in the Muslim world. “Confronting the enemies of Islam and launching jihad against them require a Muslim authority, established on a Muslim land,” he wrote. “Without achieving this goal our actions will mean nothing.” Such a jihadist state would be the ideal launching pad for future attacks on the West.
And there is no riper spot than the Sunni-majority areas of central and western Iraq. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — the most feared insurgent commander in Iraq — was issuing an invitation to Mr. bin Laden when he named his group Al Qaeda in Iraq. When Mr. Zarqawi was killed this year, his successor, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, also swore allegiance to Al Qaeda’s chief.
Another problem with a total American withdrawal is that it would fit all too neatly into Osama bin Laden’s master narrative about American foreign policy. His theme is that America is a paper tiger that cannot tolerate body bags coming home; to back it up, he cites President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 withdrawal of United States troops from Lebanon and President Bill Clinton’s decision nearly a decade later to pull troops from Somalia. A unilateral pullout from Iraq would only confirm this analysis of American weakness among his jihadist allies.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Oops....I thought this was about Osama-Obama-Bahama, the Senator from Illinois....never mind.......
I am not a Bergen fan at all. He spent 15 minutes with OBL in 1998 and has made a fortune off of it ever since as an author and self-styled "terrorism" expert. However, he does make some good points in that article, for instance the expanded use of SF assets in the war against Al Qaeda. Of course, it takes a lot of time to build up SF assets...
But the main weakness of Bergen's article is that he completely ignores Iran. Iran is up to its ears in the violence in Iraq. We cannot possibly focus solely on stopping Al Qaeda if it only allows the just-as-bad Iranians to take over
bump
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