Posted on 12/15/2005 2:27:31 PM PST by jmc1969
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the jihadist terrorist leader in Iraq, is preparing bases and logistics to extend his campaign against Jordan and Israel, a top Israeli policy adviser has warned: a clear sign that senior Israelis now judge that the U.S. war in Iraq has not made Israel any safer.
"It would be a cardinal error for Israel to conclude that after the U.S. war in Iraq, the region to Israel's east is moving in the direction of greater stability and, therefore, Israel can take the risk of conceding its strategic assets in the West Bank," claims Ambassador Dore Gold in a new policy paper just published by Israel's Institute for Contemporary Affairs.
"Were Israel to withdraw from the strategic barrier it controls in the Jordan Valley, then Israeli vulnerability could very well attract more global jihadi elements to Jordan, who would seek to use the kingdom as a platform to reach the West Bank and then Israel," Gold continues.
"Zarqawi now wants to destabilize Jordan, but clearly seeks to target Israel as well," Gold adds. "Dismissing the value of Israel's security fence, Zarqawi's organization has declared: 'the separation wall...will feel the might of the mujahidin,' hinting that Israel could face the same waves of insurgent volunteers that have entered Iraq'."
Gold, a former Israeli Ambassador to the United nations and close adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, claims that al-Qaida and its jihadist allies are moving ever closer to Israel.
"The most dramatic sign was the Nov. 9, 2005, suicide bombing of three Jordanian hotels in Amman by al-Qaida Mesopotamia -- the organization led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," claims Gold in a new paper. "Militant Islamic websites immediately announced: 'After the attack in the heart of Jordan, it will soon be possible to reach Jewish targets in Israel,'" Gold continues.
"Al-Qaida operations around Israel are becoming more prominent," Gold adds. "In August 2005, an al-Qaida rocket strike at the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba also reached the Israeli resort town of Eilat. To Israel's south, a growing al-Qaida presence in Sinai led to attacks on Israeli tourists in Taba and other coastal resorts in October 2004, followed by a major bombing at a hotel in Sharm al-Sheikh in July 2005. Sinai has also served as a rear base for the beginning of an al-Qaida presence in the Gaza Strip. Zarqawi's terrorist network formally joined al-Qaida in October 2004."
The paper, 'Zarqawi and Israel: Is There a New Jihadi Threat Destabilizing the Eastern Front?' is co-authored with Lt. Colonel Jonathan D. Halevi, a former advisor to the Policy Planning Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"For Zarqawi, the main battle of Islamic militancy was to be fought here and not in the Hindu-Kush Mountains bordering Pakistan, India, China, and Afghanistan," Gold writes, citing one of Zarqawi's speeches declaring "the true, decisive battle between infidelity and Islam is in this land, i.e., in [Greater] Syria and its surroundings."
Gold and Halevi are convinced that Zarqawi's next phase will be a direct clash with Israel, and they suspect that he may have Iranian support. When he fled Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, Zarqawi left through Iran, and while there is little solid evidence, Arab press reports suggest that during his stay in Iran, Zarqawi visited training camps run by Iran's clerical army, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, and received logistical support from its Qods Force paramilitary unit, Gold and Halevi claim.
"There is considerable evidence that Zarqawi may have developed an Iranian connection for financial and logistical support," Gold and Halevi write. "To wage his terrorist campaign, Zarqawi needed state backing from somewhere."
They cite the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat claiming in May 2004 that the Iranians had offered Zarqawi about $900,000 and explosives. The same paper reported in August that Brig.-Gen. Qassem Suleimani of the Revolutionary Guards was asked why Iran backs Zarqawi, given his attacks on Shiites. Suleimani reportedly answered that Zarqawi's actions serve the interests of Iran by undermining the emergence of a pro-U.S. government in Iraq.
In late December 2004, Hazim al-Shaalan, Iraq's interim defense minister, also charged that Iran and Syria were aiding Zarqawi's insurgent forces in Iraq. Al-Shaalan explained to Al-Sharq al-Awsat that the interrogation of one of the head operatives of al-Qaida in Iraq, who had been captured, revealed that al-Qaida recruits were undergoing military training in Iran by the Revolutionary Guards; the captured al-Qaida operative claimed that he served as an intermediary between al-Qaida in Iran and Zarqawi in Iraq, to whom he delivered messages.
"Up until now, Iran has used the Shiite Hizballah and Sunni Palestinian groups like Islamic Jihad and Hamas in order to wage a proxy war against Israel," Dore and Halevi conclude. "It would be a mistake to rule out the possibility that Iran may seek to open another front with Israel from the east, using the Zarqawi networks. Should such a situation develop, Israel would be facing a completely different strategic situation on its eastern border."
Zarqawi has been arrested as I read in another thread. And if he aint, he will soon be toast.
This is much ado about nothing, imo.
I have a solution. Any time there is a HAMAS, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah or other Terrorist group rally, drop a MOAB.
Then go into their enclaves and exterminate them like roaches. Because that is what they are.
So what's the inference? We have made Israel more vulnerable? We are in Iraq, first and foremost, to make the US more safe.
Giving up Gaza, will only expedite his attacks. Never surrender to terror!
I AGREE. That or any Funerals. I never understood why that didn't happen. Even the Haj should be considered!
I thought everybody knew the plan...the GWB / Cheney / Halliburton plan..?
You know, once Iraq is up on it's feet we annex Syria and Iran..?
What? um......how could Israel not know about the "plan" ?
oops...did I just let the cat out of the bag?
LVM
YES bomb the funerals of these people...that will help!
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conversely, it means that the US policy in Iraq is actually working -- smacks a bit of desperation: the terrorist campaign by zarqawi's puppets and allies in the MSM, Hollywood, Academe and the Democratic party has been a failure...
I don't see where I mentioned bombing funerals.
Are you seeing things?
But now that you mention it.........
LVM
..."Be lethal in turn"
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
I hate to say it, but that might be a good thing. Israel has a history of doing the dirty work that the West is too squeamish to do. Targeted killings of Zarqawi, Syrians, Iranians, bombing of Iranian enrichment plants, etc would be just the ticket.
ping
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