Outside Iraq but Deep in the Fight (Very good article on Syria's role in the Iraq war)

The Washington post ^

[jmc1969]

"No one knew about us," Abu Ibrahim said. "But September 11 gave us the media coverage. It was a great day. America was defeated. We knew they would target either Syria or Iraq, and we took a vow that if something happened to either country, we would fight."

Worried that it would be Washington's next target, Syria opposed the military coalition invading its neighbor. State media issued impassioned calls for "resistance." The nation's senior Sunni cleric, Grand Mufti Ahmad Kaftaro, undid his reputation for moderation by issuing a fatwa endorsing suicide attacks.

"Once the Americans bombed a bus crossing to Syria. We made a big fuss and said it was full of merchants," Abu Ibrahim said. "But actually, they were fighters."

"Young men are fighting with zeal and passion," Abu Ibrahim said. "There are Saudi officers, Syrians, Iraqis. But not those who fought for Saddam. The man who is leading it for the most part is Zarqawi."

Abu Ibrahim was interviewed before reports surfaced that Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian who leads an organization called al Qaeda in Iraq, had been seriously wounded -- a report later disputed in an Internet message purportedly recorded by Zarqawi. Abu Ibrahim credited Zarqawi with revitalizing the insurgency, especially since October, when he pledged fealty to Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader. Abu Ibrahim said that union helped cement an alliance among several resistance groups in Iraq that formed a joint treasury.

"Six months ago, Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden were different," he said. "Osama did not consider the killing of Shiites as legitimate. Zarqawi did that. Anyone -- Christian, Jew, Sunni, Shiites -- whoever cooperates with the Americans can be killed. It's a holy war."

[eureka!]

FYI. Interesting...

[erik22lax]

holy war? these psychos hijacked a religion and brainwashed people who don't have much too lose. It is not like you are going to win anytime soon either. US soldier casualties is under 1700 for 2+ years and over 10K civilian deaths. Who are you morons really fighting?

[henkster]

Yes, and the best part of it is that we go into their backyard and kill them there (Bush strategery), rather than waiting for them to come here and let them kill us in ours(Kerry/Clinton/Democrat/MSM "strategy").

Yeah, this is one situation where "home field" is not an advantage.

[eureka!]

The info you cite is not the info they hear. al-Jazeera, Bagdad Bob and the like is what they are told. Coupled with promises of 72 virgins, a mindset cultured on lies etc., they know not what they are up against or how their 'holy war' is really going....

[steel_resolve]

This has been posted like 50 times already

[knews_hound]

Blog fodder bump.

Cheers,

knews hound

http://knewshound.blogspot.com/

[Dog]

Thank you for the ping eureka.