Subject: Al Qaeda status

Camp Victory, Iraq
11 Sep 2004

On this somber anniversary, as if we needed reminding of Al Qaeda & the evil they represent, our favorite unbiased news organization Al-Jazeera released a videotape from Al Qaeda’s supposed #2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in which he states that the US is in an untenable situation and cannot extricate itself, and that the US will inevitably lose in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The logic used is that if the US withdraws from Afghanistan or Iraq the Muslim world will see that as a victory for the “jihad.” If we don’t leave we will slowly bleed to death. The assumption is that there are only two options. Of course, the third is that governments in Afghanistan and Iraq become mature enough to handle their own security affairs and we are able to significantly decrease our presence and combat operations basically cease because no more bad guys want to fight us.

Al Qaeda probably felt that they needed to remind the US of its relevance around the third anniversary of the hijack attacks on the WTC, Pentagon and the attempted attack on an unknown third target that ended in a Pennsylvania field. The content of al-Zawahiri’s message is interesting because it appears to me that in trying to highlight the quandary the US is in, they have actually underscored how much ground Al Qaeda has lost since 9/11/01. When we look at their stated goals and what has occurred, it’s plain to see that Al Qaeda has clearly misplayed their hand.

Al Qaeda became a household name in the wake of bombings of US military barracks at Khobar Towers (Saudi Arabia, 1996), US Embassy Bombings in East Africa (1998) and the attack on the USS COLE in Yemeni waters in 2000. The stated goals, or demands, of this terrorist group are predominantly, that the US remove all military personnel from the Muslim countries (specifically from the “holy land” of Saudi Arabia) and that the US stop all military and financial support for Israel. Additionally, Al Qaeda has stated that they wish to have a worldwide “jihad” against the US and US interests. Since those attacks on the periphery of US interests did not have the intended effect on our policies, Al Qaeda determined to take the fight to the US homeland, with which we are all too familiar. So how does Al Qaeda stand on their stated goals? Let’s take a look…..

The US military out of all Muslim countries. Absolute failure. The US military is firmly in place in Afghanistan and in Iraq – the heart of the Arab middle east.
Support for Israel. Absolute failure again. The US has not done anything to “force” Israel to do what they don’t want to do, and we have not left them out to dry, either.
Worldwide “jihad.” Almost complete failure. US operations in the Global War on Terrorism have been used as justification for further Muslim and Arab hatred for the US. Whether this has caused more hatred towards us or just brought latent hatred to the surface is clearly debatable. Though the homeland of the US has not been attacked again since 9/11/01, there have been numerous other Al Qaeda-backed attacks throughout the world, the most effective of which (Spain in March) resulted in the retreat of Spanish troops from Iraq in June. I must add that the Spanish troops themselves, by and large, wanted to stay. They were humiliated that their country cut & ran. The Spanish government displayed their cowardice, not their soldiers.

So, in general, it’s pretty clear that Al Qaeda is in worse straits now than it was before 9/11/01. There is no country anywhere that openly supports and harbors them. They have lost their sanctuary in Afghanistan and the US and coalition forces did in about 90 days what the Soviets couldn’t do in all their time there.

But what about Iraq? Well, the son of Osama bin Ladin’s mentor stated recently that Iraq is the new land of “jihad” for them, that jihadists are coming from all over the world to fight the US here. Guess what? That’s exactly what we want. Much better to fight them here than in our streets. In war, “away” games are always preferable to “home” games. The greatest mission of those of us in the military is to “keep the wolf from the front door.” That is the greatest contribution to homeland security that we are making here. Some would argue that there are many people fighting us here that would not ever be able to take the fight to our shores. That is true enough. However, the net deterrent effect cannot be dismissed. The more of these nut cases we put out of commission here, the fewer there are try to get to our homeland. In the long run, when the new Iraq rises out of the rubble of change, a huge nail will be put in the coffin of militant Islam. If you think that is far-fetched, think about Beirut 20 years ago. That city was among the most dangerous places in the world. Huge swaths of the city had been destroyed by years of interfactional fighting. Now Beirut, and Lebanon in general, is a hugely popular vacation destination for the Middle East. You should see the commercials on TV here for Lebanese resorts. They look like commercials for Caribbean resorts that we see in the US. It is possible, and even inevitable. Eventually everyone gets sick of hatred and murder. The Taliban were the closest to making it work in Afghanistan, and if they hadn’t openly harbored Al Qaeda, they might still be in power.

So the next time you see “doom & gloom” on the TV about Iraq and terrorism in general, remember how much Al Qaeda has lost and how the “wolves” of the world have been distracted by our little expedition to reform the government in Iraq. In all we’re way ahead of where we were three years ago today.

Have a wonderful day! - wjt

© copyright 2004 WJ Truax

The views are my own and do not necessarily represent the position of the US military or the US Marine Corps. or this website.
 
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