BIN LADEN'S IRAQ ATTACKS BACKFIRING

New York Post ^ | 1/22/04 | NILES LATHEM

[kattracks]

January 22, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - The large number of Muslim deaths caused by al Qaeda terrorist attacks in Iraq has created p.r. problems for Osama bin Laden, who now appears to be having second thoughts about his holy war against coalition forces there, The Post has learned. New articles in al Qaeda's biweekly Internet magazine Sawt al-Jihad, or "Voice of Jihad," are urging al Qaeda supporters to stay out of Baghdad and concentrate on hitting U.S. military targets in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, according to terrorist expert Rita Katz, whose SITE Institute monitors al Qaeda propaganda on the Internet.

[swilhelm73]

Strategery redux

[JustPiper]

This is so way off mark from what is on the Ongoing Terror thread

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1013726/posts?page

[kattracks]

ping

[Hugin]

Operation Roach Motel seems to be working.

[Principled]

How will Ketchup-Boy spin this?

I'm dying in antici.... pation.

[DainBramage]

al Qaeda's biweekly Internet magazine Sawt al-Jihad, or "Voice of Jihad,"

With links to DU

[doosee]

Do Not Go To Iraq

The Muslim fanatics are confused now. Being told to not go where the infidels are. Bin Laden and his guys are seeing their front line troops slaughtered and the supply is not infinite. First act of surrender.

[LS]

I didn't really see anything in the last 100 posts on that thread that invalidates this. Since there are 13,000, could you be more specific?

[LoudRepublicangirl]

When they start accidentally hitting civilians in these locations what will there strategy be then?

[angkor]

This is also the problem that JI is having in Indonesia. They're killed too many Muslims (95 percent at JW Marriott), they don't have any clean Western targets, and they're not wanted.

[GretchenEE]

May all bin Laden's money take wings
and all his cohorts disband in confusion
before the might of the United States
swoops down to evict him
from his caves.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Katz and government counter-terror experts believe al Qaeda's campaign inside Iraq has backfired politically on bin Laden and there is growing evidence that the fanatic legion of "foreign fighters" may no longer be welcome in most quarters of Iraq.

"It's clear that the killing of a lot of Muslims in Iraq is something al Qaeda now wants to avoid," Katz said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

According to even the earliest polls, accounts from bloggers, and our Iraqpress allies ~ reports from inside Iraq ~ foreign fighters were never welcome in Iraq during or after the war by the vast majority of Iraqis who want US there to help stabilize their country ~ and to keep just such bad guys from gaining power.

Saddam Hussein killed more Muslims than anyone. The Iraqis tried and died by the thousands...and couldn't remove him from power without our help. Why would these long-oppressed, brutalized people ever choose to support Bin Laden, or any other powerhungry tyrant? Of course they don't!

[SW6906]

I stopped reading that thread months ago as it has become quite the chat thread.

[New Horizon]

...urging al Qaeda supporters to stay out of Baghdad and concentrate on hitting U.S. military targets in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain...

Obviously these dumbasses haven't yet concluded that attacking US Military in any location is a losing proposition.

And that's a good thing.

I'm sure the majority of AQ supporters are disappointed that they're not being urged to murder women and children; their preferred targets.

[jimbo123]

Flypaper stratergy.

[gbaker]

But but but W said to bring it on. And now their quiting? Bin must be worried about Kerry. Yeah thats it.

[Snake65]

Guess we're killing them about as fast, if not faster, than whoever is running the show (I still say he's dead) can send them. As Martha Stewart would say: That's A Good Thing.

[Tricorn]

If it's PR he wants, bin Laden should go back to building roads and hospitals and day care centers and abortion clinics and government cheese distribution centers. Patty Murray will give him all the good PR he wants.

Of course, OBL is dead anyway.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Al Queda doesn't care who they kill, just like the psychotics they are.

[expatpat]

The Arabs weren't very popular in Afghanistan either, even among the Taliban (tho' they liked the money they brought).

[optimistically_conservative]

I can think of lots of reasons for AQ to pull out of Iraq. Three that come to mind and are cyclic:

1. The capture and killing of foreign fighters, bombmakers, documents, money, equipment, etc. is exposing the AQ operation and support infrastructure. Giving the Americans and world more visibility and effective means to dismantle the organization.

2. Individual and state sponsors in the region (Syria, Iran, SA, etc.) are finally being pressured effectively to cut off funding and in SA's case (and Syria's somewhat) demonstrate an effort to crack down. The word is getting back that the pressure is intensifying and will soon end if operations in Iraq continue.

3. "The Arab Street" is beginning to turn away from the Islamic fanaticism as they see, meet and talk to Iraqis and other Islamic intellectuals that are frustrated and angry by the killings of Muslims by other Muslims. They are losing the moral argument - the foundation of their power.

Losing recruits, money and religious support bodes an end to AQ.

[expatpat]

Paraphrasing Mark Steyn, he's lying so low that he can't get up again.

[GOPJ]

Looks like Osama's replacement is ticking off the Muslim world with his stupid decisions. The race is on: Will the new leaders of AQ turn the Muslim world against terrorism faster than we can?

Of course, OBL is dead anyway.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[GalaxieFiveHundred]

New articles in al Qaeda's biweekly Internet magazine...

How bizarre. So, do they have a birthday and anniversary page too? Crossword puzzle? Classified ads?

[ZOTnot]

I stopped reading it also. Perpetrates fear for the most part among those still participating. None of the zero-hour predictions have panned out to be true. It's all speculation by those posting.

[Grampa Dave]

First of all, "He's dead, Jim!"

Second, Travis Mcgee predicted al Qaeda Islamofacist thugs would be drawn into Iraq like moths to a big candle. Actually he underestimated the incoming thugs to be slaughtered. It has been more like moths flying into huge bonfires.

That is the reason why the surviving so called brain trust of al Qaeda will probably pull back its thugs. Our spec ops and regular warriors are killing them all over Iraq as they come into Iraq or do something stupid in Iraq after they arrive.

Al Qaeda has never worried about killing innocent Arabs, Jews, or Americans.

[CougarGA7]

Meanwhile at Osama Terror Works LLC:

"Hey Akmed! We are running waaaay low on suicide bombers."

"OK. Tell them to get out of Iraq until we can resupply. We are really ticking the people there off anyway."

[fish hawk]

but..but..but there are NO ties with al Qaeda in Iraq??? I saw it on the news.

[GigaDittos]

You think they figured out that real soldiers don't die as easy as unarmed, untrained civilians? These are some really bright guys.

[GigaDittos]

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

On CNBC someone just reported that there was a rumor going around tha Osama had been captured or something of that magnitude had happened. Washington was denying the rumor. however there was a announcement by John Snow about a new level of cooperation with the Saudi government to go after some charities that had been funding terrorism.

[Billthedrill]

The squabbling that is currently going on in Iraq is actually a healthy sign in one very important way - it means that the Iraqis are focused on forming a new government, meaning that (1) they now know the Ba'athists aren't going to roll back as they did in '91, (2) they are convinced that the U.S. really is going to leave with Iraqis in charge and (3) non-Iraqi buttinskis have run out of anything substantive to offer. It is the last issue that is causing al-Qaeda to cut its losses - literally.

It was Tom Clancy who made the point in one of his novels that even the most powerful and well-funded terrorist organization would be insane to attempt to confront even a medium-sized state directly - the difference in terms of funding and manpower is simply not even close within several orders of magnitude. And al-Qaeda has done precisely that, only it wasn't a single medium-sized state, it was the Big Dog and a whole lot of its friends.

Frankly, they gain nothing by continuing to destabilize Iraq. They've come to the position of attempting to conduct a guerrilla war as easily-identified foreigners in open terrain and with half-trained amateurs against professionals, a position that has "loser" written all over it, top to bottom. Their core competency is murdering unarmed civilians, and this is no longer the place for it.

[LayoutGuru2]

OSAMA CAPTURE DENIED

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thank you, thank you!!!!!!!

Finally a real text message . See the Link above!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Shutting down here!

[e5man_r_u?]

the fanatic legion of "foreign fighters" may no longer be welcome in most quarters of Iraq.

I have heard of civilian protests against the foreign fighters even before Saddam was flushed from his hole. Cautiously optimistic!

[Cicero]

You won't see this being said in the mainstream press, unfortunately. The New York Post is a major exception. Most of the media haven't even admitted that al Quaeda is involved in the Iraqi terrror attacks, let alone that they are losing the war.

Ketchup Kerry doesn't have to explain his position on this successful outcome for Bush, because he will never be asked, not by any of the interviewers he is likely to sit down with.

[gov_bean_ counter]

It is worse than that. Osama doesn't have an exit strategy.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Bin Laden isn't telling anybody anything. Bin Laden is dead. If he were alive, it wouldn't be necessary to forge video and audio tapes for him.

[cake_crumb]

Wait a minute. Whoever's running al Qaeda sounds like they think they might have gotten themselves into a Quagmire. Like they were too overconfident of success and don't have enough troops to finish the job in Iraq. Like it's costing them too much with funding being cut and taking too long.

Sounds like they are taking the advice they and their allies in the UN and Democrat party gave to the president and all American patriots : RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!

[Tricorn]

"looks like Osama's replacement is ticking off the Muslim world with his stupid decisions."

Can anyone name a single solitary non-stupid decision these dumba$$e$ have made since 9/11? No wonder the Democrats love them so much.

[blackie]

BIN LADEN'S IRAQ ATTACKS BACKFIRING ~ Bump!

[JustPiper]

See thats the problem, following more than 100 posts , and I know it bites there are like 14,000, but no one is buying that UBL is backing off. He may be stopping AlQ from going into Iraq because we are being so successful at nabbing them, but that is it. His operations are in full bloom.

[M Kehoe]

I've been asking this question since Dec 2001:

Would someone, anyone, take a picture of Osama holding a current edition of the NYT? Please.

5.56mm

[SuziQ]

"It's clear that the killing of a lot of Muslims in Iraq is something al Qaeda now wants to avoid," Katz said.

DOH! Kinda slow on the uptake, weren't they?

[PhilDragoo]

Osama's tapes have a disclaimer, "This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. But I won't see it--I'm dead."

[GOPJ]

Bingo:

Travis Mcgee predicted al Qaeda Islamofacist thugs would be drawn into Iraq like moths to a big candle. Actually he underestimated the incoming thugs to be slaughtered. It has been more like moths flying into huge bonfires.

That is the reason why the surviving so called brain trust of al Qaeda will probably pull back its thugs. Our spec ops and regular warriors are killing them all over Iraq as they come into Iraq or do something stupid in Iraq after they arrive.

Al Qaeda has never worried about killing innocent Arabs, Jews, or Americans.

[lorrainer]

I just think he saw the outburst after the caucus the other night, and realized that Dean had no chance to be President. It's W for four more.