Posted: 6/1/2007 6:26:11 AM EDT
From Threatswatch
I highlighted the last part in red because it gives me a little hope that perhaps... Just maybe... al Qaeda is shooting itself in the foot with some of their ambitions. Syria is a major terrorist supporter! Why would Zawahiri really want to overthrow Assad...? I fully realize Z. would want any regime not as extreme as his own, to be overthrown and replaced with hardliners like him, but isn't it counter to Assad's - and Iran's - desires to unite as many Islamic regimes as possible against the US and Israel...? Hm. Either way... Maybe it's a slight ray of hope that they'll bomb themselves into oblivion before they export too many "active" extremists to the US or friendly nations... |
| Remember Mac, the only thing these "extream" groups want is to have thier agendas pushed. If someone does not want to push their agenda, they want to replace them. Syria probably has plans that Z does not like and therefor wants to replace them. I think this would be a good thing if they attacked Syria. The more these "extream" groups kill each other the better it is. |
I'm thinking the same thing. The more they argue theological extremist semantics amongst each other, the better... If one of the nations or groups can get the rest of the groups thinking similar ("The enemy of my enemy is my friend" type thing) we are in for some even more Happy Fun Times™ though. |
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Years ago Syria had a problem with muslim extremists. They were perceived as a threat to the security of the Syrian families that hold the power reins, so the Army was ordered to take care of the problem. They dropped a proverbial ton of hammers on the problem. Syria is obviously no friend of the US- but they will act "rationally" in the case of self-preservation. I would not be surprised if Al Qaeda's take on Syria is partly based on what Syria did with it's homegrown extremist problem in the past AND it appears Syria has on several cases shared information about Al Qaeda with the west in the past. Furthermore, Syria is also involved in destabilizing Iraq and they don't like competition. What little I have read about the middle east has left me with the impression that "Arab unity" is as big of a joke now as it has ever been. |
| Well, good for now, at least. If they pursue this far enough, eventually, one hardline ruler will emerge who will have the entire Muslim world at his fingertips, nukes and all. Israel will face a million man army. If they can take out Israel, they will go after Europe and eventually the US. |
Fantasy. |
Reality. We need to exploit this weakness, why we aren't, I don't know. |
The downside is that while Zawahiri may try to blow parts of Damascus up (and the Syrians, vice versa), they both hate the US... I personally don't know how we would exploit this. Some people were recently arrested in Tehran for anti-Iranian actions... I don't know if they were affiliated with the US, but we need to go about it a little more tactfully than that if they were... |