A coworker today made the statement that Al Qaeda is not in Iran or Iraq. Can you guess his political leaning? Let me shine some light on the subject.
A recent NY Sun article outlined several scary facts about Iran and Al Qaeda:
- A June 2007 report by counter-terrorism experts at West Point suggests that, between 2001 and 2005, Iran harbored Al Qaeda’s third-ranking official and director of military operations, and that he could still be operating there today.
- In 2003, Iran offered a swap of the senior leaders in exchange for members of an Iranian opposition group on America’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, the People’s Mujahadin. That deal was scuttled after signal intercepts proved, according to American intelligence officials, that Mr. Adel was in contact with an Al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia.
- The link between Iran and Al Qaeda is not new, in some cases. The bipartisan September 11 commission report, for example, concluded: “There is strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of Al Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers.” According to the commission, a senior Al Qaeda coordinator, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, said eight of the September 11 hijackers went through Iran on their way to and from Afghanistan.
Here are some bullets from a July 24, 2007 White House press release:
- The Al Qaeda terrorists we face in Iraq are part of the same enemy that attacked the United States On 9/11, and they still intend to attack us at home. While there is a debate in Washington about al Qaeda’s role in Iraq, the facts are that al Qaeda in Iraq is an organization founded by foreign terrorists, led largely by foreign terrorists, and loyal to Osama bin Laden.
- The recent capture of Al Qaeda in Iraq’s most senior Iraqi official reveals that the group is led by foreigners who are trying to deceive others into thinking they are Iraqis. On July 4, Coalition forces captured a senior al Qaeda in Iraq leader named Khalid Abdul Fattah Da’ud Mahmoud al-Mashadani, the highest ranking Iraqi in the organization.
- Al Qaeda in Iraq, more than any other group, is behind most of the spectacular, high-casualty attacks seen on TV. Our military estimates that between 80 and 90 percent of suicide attacks in Iraq are carried out by foreign-born al Qaeda terrorists brought into the country for the sole purpose of blowing themselves up and killing innocent Iraq civilians.
And some miscellaneous nuggets:
- The leader of an Al Qaeda umbrella group in Iraq, who was thought to have beeen killed by US forces, has threatened to wage war against Iran unless it stops supporting Shias in Iraq within two months. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, head of the Islamic State in Iraq, said his Sunni fighters have been preparing to wage a battle against Shia-dominated Iran. (source)
- Recent attacks on Iraqis celebrating a soccer victory are classic terrorist events. Al Qaeda piggybacked off of a rare moment of national unity and grabbed the media headlines by turning a positive story into one of despair. The two suicide bombs sat in parked cars, instead of detonating their bombs remotely. Al Qaeda wanted to put its signature on this attack. Also, al Qaeda in Iraq demonstrated that while its capacity for large strikes may have diminished, it still possesses the ability to attack inside Baghdad. (source)
- April 2007: An Iraqi suspected of being a senior al-Qaida commander has been captured and is now in U.S. custody at Guantanamo, the Pentagon said Friday. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the captive is Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, adding that he was caught as he tried to return to Iraq. U.S. intelligence sources told NBC News that al-Hadi was taken into custody in late 2006 and has provided the CIA with hundreds of leads into al-Qaida operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Whitman said that “Abd al-Hadi was trying to return to his native country, Iraq, to manage al-Qaida’s affairs and possibly focus on operations outside Iraq against Western targets.” He added that the terror suspect also met with al-Qaida members in Iran. (source)
To suggest that Al Qaeda is not in Iran or Iraq is ignorant. Stop listening to liberals blinded by their hatred for the President and their unwillingness to acknowledge the facts and reality of the war we are fighting. Terrorists want to kill us, here and abroad. Wake up lefty.
I just read an article by Stu Bykofsky at the Philadelphia News. The title: “To save America, we need another 9/11.”
Abrasive? C’mon… Stu is in friggin’ Philly.
Shocking? Perhaps.
Accurate? Damned straight.
Stu hit it out of the park, he hit the nail on the head, he <insert accuracy metaphor here>. I’ve been thinking the same thing for a couple of years. Americans these days are more concerned about the demise of a falling pop star or whether to choose Manning or Brady in their fantasy football draft than they are about whether or not Wall Street or the Pentagon get nuked.
Hell0? McFly? We are in the middle of a war!
While some politicians and energetic patriots (us loud talkers) are trying to secure our borders other Americans are getting their panties in a wad and are calling the efforts bigoted or racist. (Never mind the fact that 25% of those crossing our borders illegally are not even Latino.) While some are working to get our troops the equipment they need to fight and survive, others are forcing them to fight under ridiculous rules of engagement.
Political correctness. Catering to Islam. Arrogance. Conceit. Complacency. They are turning us into a sweet target… a fat, plump tomato at the peak of its ripeness. The longer the bad guys wait, the less we will care. Then it will happen. Maybe this time it will be a syncronized multi-city attack on our elementary schools. Maybe it will be a poisoned water supply in the heart of America. Maybe it will be the destruction of a nuclear reactor near a big city. I can think of dozens of ways to wreak havoc. But whatever they do, it will be effective, chaotic, and sadly, unexpected.
What happens next is easy to predict. Flags will get dusted off and propped up on cars and trucks. Politicians will call for togetherness while trying to avoid looking like opportunists. Passionate conservatives will gather up their ammunition and vow to secure their families and possessions. Passionate liberals will call for dialog and understanding. Some on the left will say that we deserve what we get, that we are the cause of the strife in the world. Some on the right will scream for a nuclear response. And a whole bunch of us will say “told you so.”
One thing is certain. When the next attack happens (and some think it will happen before the end of this year) there will be a significant rise in vigilantism and a serious increase in anti-Muslim sentiments. Local mosques will be destroyed; innocent Muslims will be killed by angry Americans frustrated that our leaders have been so incredibily ineffective for the past six years.
But for now we have to live with the stupidity of restrictions on liquid carry-on containers at airports and the need to remove our shoes before walking through a metal detector. We will have to live with the fact that we can’t offend Muslims by profiling. We will have to live with a wave of self-centered Latino pride that refuses to become American yet demands the rights of Americans. While Britain continues to capture terrorist thugs we will have to endure the mindless rantings of paranoid tinfoil hat wearers that refuse to even consider the benefits of increased video surveillance in our cities. No, no, no, we can’t piss off the ACLU or CAIR.
In other words, we will continue to live with our asses exposed to the world for anyone that hates us to kick us right where it counts. And I guess we will deserve it, but not because of our political views. We will deserve what we get because as a whole we are too damned worried about who Brittney is kissing or how much Lindsey Lohan had to drink. We are drunk on vapidity, and the only way to sober up is a nice warm cup of death at home.
