The Command Post - Global War On Terror

August 03, 2004

The Terror Web

I hopped over to Hugh Hewitt's site today to see what was new, and found this post about the recent Lawrence Wright New Yorker article, The Terror Web. Hugh had read it on the plane recently, as had I ... this past Sunday in fact.

I was so struck by the piece that I tried to post it here last night, but it was not yet online. It is now (hat trip to Hugh for finding it), and it's required reading. I could cite many, many passages here, but this one gives you the flavor:

The day of the [Madrid] bombings, analysts at the Forsvarets Forskningsinstitutt, a Norwegian think tank near Oslo, retrieved a document that they had noticed on an Islamist Web site the previous December. At the time, the document had not made a big impression, but now, in light of the events in Madrid, it read like a terrorist road map. Titled "Jihadi Iraq: Hopes and Dangers," it had been prepared by a previously unknown entity called the Media Committee for the Victory of the Iraqi People (Mujahideen Services Center).
The document, which is forty-two pages long and appears to be the work of several anonymous authors, begins with the proposition that although Coalition forces in Iraq, led by America, could not be defeated by a guerrilla insurgency, individual partners of the Coalition could be persuaded to depart, leaving America more vulnerable and discouraged as casualties increased and the expenses became insupportable. Three countries--Britain, Spain, and Poland--formed the European backbone of the Coalition. Poland appeared to be the most resolute, because the populace largely agreed with the government's decision to enter Iraq. In Britain, the war was generally deplored. "Before the war, in February, about a million people went out on a huge march filling the streets of London,"� the document notes. "This was the biggest march of political protest in the history of Britain." But the authors suggest that the British would not withdraw unless the casualty count sharply increased.
Spain, however, presented a striking opportunity. The war was almost universally unpopular. Aznar had plunged his country into Iraq without seeking a consensus, unlike other Coalition leaders. "If the disparity between the government and the people were at the same percentage rate in Britain, then the Blair government would fall," the author of this section observes. The reason Aznar had not yet been ousted, the author claims, was that Spain is an immature democracy and does not have a firm tradition of holding its rulers accountable. Right-wing Spanish voters also tended to be more loyal and organized than their leftist counterparts. Moreover, the number of Spanish casualties in Iraq was less than a dozen. "In order to force the Spanish government to withdraw from Iraq, the resistance should deal painful blows to its forces," the writer proposes. "It is necessary to make utmost use of the upcoming general election in Spain in March next year. We think that the Spanish government could not tolerate more than two, maximum three blows, after which it will have to withdraw as a result of popular pressure. If its troops still remain in Iraq after these blows, the victory of the Socialist Party is almost secured, and the withdrawal of the Spanish forces will be on its electoral program."� Once Spain pulled out of Iraq, the author theorizes, the pressure on Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, to do the same might be unbearable--"and hence the domino tiles would fall quickly."

The prospect of an al Qaeda with political, and not simply social, objectives ... that's something to keep you up at night. There's also this:

Four days later, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, a group claiming affiliation with Al Qaeda, sent a bombastic message to the London newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi, avowing responsibility for the train bombings. �Whose turn will it be next?� the authors taunt. �Is it Japan, America, Italy, Britain, Saudi Arabia, or Australia?� The message also addressed the speculation that the terrorists would try to replicate their political success in Spain by disrupting the November U.S. elections. �We are very keen that Bush does not lose the upcoming elections,� the authors write. Bush�s �idiocy and religious fanaticism� are useful, the authors contend, for they stir the Islamic world to action.

Read it all.

(Cross posted here.)

Posted by Alan at August 3, 2004 10:46 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Alan,

I picked up a copy several days ago. This is a great read for anyone who really wants to understand our enemy in this War on Terror. A must read!

It's trite and I have said it many times before but this war is truly a war of Good vs. Evil. I read another piece somewhere today on the naming of this war. This writer was saying "Terror" is a misnomer as this is a tactic and not an entity and fails to identify are real enemy. It is more correct to term this as a war against radical Islamic extremism or Islamofascism. Our existence is the very antithesis of this cultest religion and culture. These are transnational terrorists who share a common bond of Islamofascism which is locked in the 12th and 13th Century.

Their religious mission is to kill or convert everyone of us to this extremist cult. We will win the war in the end because this is a failed ideology that will never meet the needs and desires of it followers. The only question is how many lives will be lost in this war before the American People unite both left and rght and crush this enemy. This is an enemy that there can be no negotiation or appeasement.

The Great Satan and the Zionists are the root of all their problems or scapegoat instead of looking inward to their own faults of a repressiive, male dominated, religious theocratic hegemony.

For further on Islamofascism see our site an the dangers we face:

FREEDOM - Thx to The Greatest Generation For Preserving It:

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1139

"US Media's Lack of Objectivity on War On Terror":

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=922

"Power and Politics of Blogs":

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1131

"The War on Terror - The Rise of Islamofascism"

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1000

"Geo-Political Strategic Analysis on The War On Terror"

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1063

"Iraq, Libya, and North Korea Almost Built the Islamic Nuke"

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=979

"WSJ OP-ED Reply to Spain's Prime Minister's Letter and A Call to Arms -Let's Roll"

http://www.hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=624

Ron Wriight, Moderator
HSPIG Forums Site
www.hspig.org

Posted by: Ron Wrght at August 4, 2004 01:05 AM

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Concerning Spain...."If, you can keep your head while all others are losing theirs.....you would do the right thing in the face of overwhelming opposition, and take the fight to the enemy. " For the loser now will be later to win,'Cause the times they are a changing."

Zarqs' long winded letter and these guys 42 page long winded ad nausiaism point out how to destroy your self if you're a terrorist. The Mesopotamian (A Liberty loving Iraqian) pointed this out at his blog many moons ago.

Unity my friends, WE STAND TOGETHER against this kind of crap. Speak frankly to counter the CRIMINAL TERRORIST and the RELIGIOUS POLICE for they are AGAINST LIBERTY and my MOM and probably don't like apple pie either.

I personally declared war on those CRIMINALS three days after the two towers were ambushed. (Do you know that at that time (Sept.14th) there were no phone listings for directory assistance {411} to access in Afghanistan. (All that opium and no phones.) Even the numbers that Foreign Affairs gave me could not be accessed. I think to my self "What's wrong with developing the Middle East?" Peace is so profitable for all concerned....
........................................................................................
So lets Bush whack them all over the world, they fired first and the whites of their beady little eyes can be seen clearly with our satellites.

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PS Is it not more accurate to describe this as the global war against A-holes?

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Posted by: augurwell at August 4, 2004 07:22 AM

augurwell - Ditto!

global war against radical Islamist A-holes

Posted by: Jim at August 4, 2004 11:33 AM