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This article is dated December 16, 2003 and is posted intact with the permission of the author Jeremy Reynalds.

Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org

The Coming Strike?

    Last weekend's successful capture of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was portrayed in a different light by some radical Islamic extremists.

    Self proclaimed al Qaida operative Daleel Almojahid said people should not be fooled by the jubilation shown over Hussein's capture. Almojahid wrote in an e-mail (sic), "Don't let the happiness fool you, the Americans are in the worst situation ever since starting their war on Afghanistan and Iraq ... The trap of Baghdad will start showing its teeth soon, and as you all know al Qaida has issued a warning for all Muslims to start leaving parts of the US. We hope that the warnings have reached."

    Almojahid contended that (sic), "The (real) war with America did not start yet. The mojahideen are moving with certain planes. The timing of the start of the war will be decided (by) the mojahideen themself; but we can promise you that Bush and Blair and a lot of the crusaders don't know yet who al Qaida really is, but they will soon. The coming strike will turn the table upside down and we promise all Muslims in the word that god's victory is very near if you just know. We will issue a demand letter after the first strike and we advise America to answer all our demands right away."

     Almojahid's contention about forthcoming strikes was also echoed by the latest press release from al Muhajiroun, a radical Islamic group based in London. The group has been linked to the British suicide bombers in Israel and has also issued calls to overthrow the British government.

    A writer for the group commented, "Many are now openly admitting from amongst the military and elsewhere, that the attacks won't cease because of Saddam's capture. The recent car bombs directed at pro-U.S. Iraqi police units has shown this to be true. The U.S. cannot blame Saddam anymore for the many attacks by the Mujahideen, as he is now in custody. Though in order to save face, they have resorted to blaming Saddam's number two aide, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who they claim is still at large."

    The same release even speculated that Hussein was actually arrested some time prior to last Saturday. The writer commented (sic), "Unconfirmed news reports coming out from Iraq ten days ago had muted the possibility of U.S. forces having captured Saddam. These reports were promptly denied by U.S. officials at the time."

    Al Muhajiroun suggested that the reason for the recent announcement about Hussein's capture was that "the Bush administration decided to capitalize on the political impact of his arrest now."

    The release writer claimed that Bush needed "political capital in the countdown to the U.S. presidential elections."

     Attempting to explain his rationale, the writer commented that some hours before the announcement of Hussein's capture, President Bush had approved economic and political sanctions against Syria over its failure to act against terrorism.

    That action, the release writer commented, "prompted calls from the Democrats in the U.S. to claim Bush was â€˜in over his head' and slammed his administration's foreign policy in Afghanistan and Iraq as â€˜cowboy diplomacy.' Much was made of the fact that neither weapons of mass destruction had been found, nor had â€˜terrorists' like Saddam or Usama been captured."

    President Bush's problems were compounded, the writer claimed when in a video aired Thursday by the Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (leader of the armed opposition Hizb e-Islami group inside Afghanistan) warned there would be no peace in Afghanistan under U.S. occupation and vowed to continue to fight the U.S. forces there.

    According to the al Muhajiroun report, the video showed pictures of opposition fighters training in military camps in the North of Afghanistan, as well as regrouped Taliban units. Hekmatyar challenged U.S. troops to allow reporters unhindered access inside Afghanistan so that they could report on what was really going on there. The writer said that Hekmatyar "explained how US forces had failed to bring any stability and safety to the country after the overthrow of the Taliban regime. Amongst Democrats, this was further ammunition to pummel Bush with."

    "The announcement of Saddam's capture therefore took the Democrats (and other opposition parties) by surprise, such that they had to concede this success to Bush publically." Thus nabbing Bush, the group claimed, "has earned Bush some much needed domestic respite."