Posted on 10/09/2007 8:44:45 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Over the past six months, there has been a remarkable twist in the larger war on terrorism that has received only middling public attention. For arguably the first time since the contemporary "war on terrorism" began in 2001, the tension between and among various armed jihadist factions and their supporters has begun to erupt into ugly public disputes, awkward confrontations--and even murder. The tendency towards quarreling has reached the most senior levels of Al-Qaida, with Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri himself firing off blistering public accusations against the Palestinian Hamas movement, charging it with cowardly abandoning the cause. But of all places, and against all odds, it is the conflict in Iraq which has resulted in the most serious clashes between opposing ranks of mujahideen. Unlike Dr. al-Zawahiri's dressing-down of Hamas, the infighting in Iraq has not merely been limited to fractures between the Muslim Brotherhood and the more extreme Salafi-jihadists of Al-Qaida. Indeed, native Iraqi Salafists (i.e. the Islamic Army of Iraq, IAI) with a long history of brutality, and who remain vocal supporters of Usama Bin Laden, were among the first of their kind to publicly accuse Al-Qaida's network in Iraq of serious transgressions that were harming the greater cause of jihad.
To better understand the present situation in Iraq, it is helpful to turn to a rather unusual source: an English-language book written by former Finsbury Park Mosque cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri titled "Khawaarij and Jihad." Though the book is divided into various sections, it is largely focused on explaining the reasons behind the disastrous collapse of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in Algeria during the mid-1990s, as understood through the Islamic concept of "Khawaarij."
(Excerpt) Read more at counterterrorismblog.org ...
Tell it to Bill “Oh Really”..He dismissively says we have lost..I had left on Fox and happened to hear him.He was discussing why the populace is against the war. What a know nothing jerk.
I had a long discussion with a Liberal today. Although he considers himself a very informed man, he had no idea what is going on in Iraq, as is being described by Kilcullen and others on the ground such as Michael Yon. He was shocked when I told him how well things seem to be going there lately. He believes the MSM spin and the lies of Reid and Pelosi and thinks this war is some plot to make money on oil and has nothing to do with any wider war.
It is difficult to counter so many ill informed verities in a few short hours. And this is a reasonably informed and engaged fellow. I shudder to think of the vast reservoirs of ignorance puddling out there in the American public, encouraged by the MSM and our venal politicians.
Thanks.
“Algeria has demonstrated an unconditional support for the Polisario since 1975, delivering arms, training, financial aid, food, without interruption for more than thirty years... In an interview with The European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center (ESISC) commander Lahbib Ayoub, a founding member of Polisario, who returned to Morocco, explained that Algeria ‘had chosen’ Mohammed Abdelaziz at the top of the Polisario organisation although he did not belong to the very closed circle of the organization’s founders and ‘we could refuse them [the Algerians] nothing: they were giving us everything, or almost everything. He always considered himself to be their man.’”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polisario_Front
“Supporters of the present Polisario leadership has accused Khat al-Shahid of working for, or being exploited by, the Moroccan government, but no proof of this has been presented. The movement’s relations to Algeria, which backs the Polisario, are unknown. In a statement in June 2004, the movement hailed the position of the USA, ‘not recognizing the legitimacy of the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara’, most likely in a reference to the Moroccan-American Free Trade Agreement, which excluded Moroccan-held Western Sahara from the areas judged to be under Moroccan sovereignty.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_Polisario_Khat_al-Shahid
Developed by the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), the Terrorism Knowledge Base offers in-depth information on terrorist incidents, groups, and trials
I couldn't tell if this quote was about the GIA or Democrats
:’) After Boumeddiene (longtime strongman in Algeria) died, there was some commotion for a number of years, then an open election was held which was won by Islamicists. The ancien regime survivors said, no way jose’, that triggered a civil war of sorts. The purpose behind my admittedly obscure quotes above can finally be seen (and I should have done this before):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria#Post-independence
“Elections were planned to happen in 1991. In December 1991, the Islamic Salvation Front won the first round of the country’s first multi-party elections. The military then intervened and cancelled the second round, forced then-president Bendjedid to resign, and banned all political parties based on religion (including the Islamic Salvation Front). The ensuing conflict engulfed Algeria in the violent Algerian Civil War. More than 160,000 people were killed between 17 January 1992 and June 2002. Most of the deaths were between militants and government troops, but a great number of civilians were also killed. The question of who was responsible for these deaths was controversial at the time amongst academic observers; many were claimed by the Armed Islamic Group. There can be no doubt however that the vast majority of this massacres were carried out by the Islamic Terrorist rather than the security services, or security services infiltration of the terrorist groups (see Algerian Civil War).”
IMHO, it’s no coincidence that Polisario went into quiesence in 1991.
read
Thank you very much for posting this. Kircullen has quite a mind and speaks with profound clarity. So often military theory can degrade into verbose jargon, but not so here. Really interesting read.
Without an external enemy to unite against (or even with one), it's all a power struggle, with various factions killing each other to see which faction gets to dominate the others.
Every once in a while you get somebody, like Saddam or Arafat, who is able to keep a lid on it by simply killing every possible rival. But long term, once the Saddam of Arafat dies, then you have mass fighting.
Early Al-Qaeda rumblings in the Maghreb? (Islamic Fascist Update)
The Daily Star (Lebanon) | 18 April 2007 | James Badcock
Posted on 04/17/2007 8:21:11 PM EDT by Cornpone
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1819002/posts
Sahara Dispute Limits Terror Fight
Townhall | 4/13/07
Posted on 04/14/2007 10:29:54 AM EDT by Valin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817274/posts
Mauritanian Passenger Plane Hijacked To Western Sahara - Mauritanian Police
Reuters | February 15, 2007
Posted on 02/15/2007 2:05:28 PM EST by HAL9000
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1785471/posts
War protesters sleeping with the enemy
Chicago Sun-Times | August 21, 2005 | ROBERT NOVAK
Posted on 08/21/2005 10:37:51 PM EDT by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1467972/posts
[snip] President Bush’s unusual dispatch Wednesday of Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, by presidential jet to Tindouf, Algeria, to preside over a sensitive prisoner release in the Western Sahara, was requested by participants and had been in the works for weeks. U.S. diplomats worked hard for the release of 404 remaining Moroccan prisoners of war held by the Polisario Front independence movement, but it had been postponed several times. Lugar was requested as a statesman respected by Bush but independent of the administration. [end]
Castro And Terrorism A Chronology 1959-1967 (Revised 1959-2001)
Cuban Information Archives Document 0229 | Eugene Pons
Posted on 07/26/2003 10:12:17 AM EDT by Luis Gonzalez
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/953005/posts
Castro and Terrorism: A Chronology
Front Page Magazine | June 10, 2005 | Eugene Pons
Posted on 06/10/2005 6:23:09 AM EDT by rdb3
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1420149/posts
[snip] Castro... established close military cooperation and exchanges with Iraq, Libya, Southern Yemen, the Polisario Front for the Liberation of Western Sahara, the PLO and others in the Middle East... Cuba joined with Algeria and Libya on a diplomatic/political offensive in support of Frente POLISARIO (People’s Front for the Liberation of Western Sahara and R o del Oro); later on provided military cooperation, and medical services. [end]
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