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Jewish World Review January 11, 2008 / 4 Shevat 5768 George in Jihadland By Caroline B. Glick
For the past several weeks, the leaders of the global jihad and their state
sponsors in Syria and Iran have escalated their rhetorical and military
attacks against Israel and the US. Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman
Zawahiri and his American lackey Adam Gadahn all issued video and audio
appeals on the eve of Bush's trip. Their messages were devoted mainly to the
campaigns against US forces in Iraq and against Israel. Bin Laden labeled
Iraqi opponents of al Qaida in Iraq apostates and called for Iraqis to rally
around his allied forces. Gadahn called for Bush's assassination. All three
men called for Israel's annihilation and for the unification of the forces
of global jihad.
Then there is the al Qaida affiliate Fatah al Islam. Fatah al Islam is
considered a creation of Syrian intelligence. It is led by Shaker al Absi, a
Palestinian and a former member of the Syrian military. Syrian intelligence
dispatched Absi to Lebanon last year to launch a campaign against the
Lebanese military. Under his command, Fatah al Islam took over the Nahr el
Bared Palestinian refugee camp where it pinned down the Lebanese Army for
four months before being overrun.
Despite assertions by the Lebanese military that al Absi had been killed,
his body was never found. This week, ahead of Bush's trip, al-Absi surfaced
alive with a videotape attacking the Lebanese army; calling for a jihadist
takeover of the Levant; and announcing his allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
Western intelligence agencies have claimed that he is currently operating
from Syria. Jihadist websites claim that al-Absi has based himself in
northern Iraq. There, they reported that he is combining forces with al
Qaida in Iraq. Whether he is in Iraq or Syria, allegations that he is
collaborating with al Qaida terrorists in Iraq make sense given that Absi
was formerly allied with Abu Musab Zarkawi, who led al Qaida forces in Iraq
until he was killed by US forces in June 2006.
Absi's Syrian-supported operations have also extended to Gaza. Over the past
several months, Gazan terror cadres claiming membership in Fatah al Islam
have been actively involved in recruitment and propaganda activities. Last
month, the organization in Gaza claimed it fired missiles at southern
Israel.
Absi's videotaped message was followed by Monday night's Katyusha attack on
the Galilee and Tuesday's roadside bombing of UNIFIL forces near Sidon. When
seen as component parts of a larger whole, it is clear that Fatah al Islam's
various groupings are acting to unify al Qaida forces in Iraq, Gaza and
Lebanon under one banner.
Like al Qaida, Hamas too spent the period leading up to Bush's visit
escalating both its missile offensive against southern Israel and its
anti-Israel and anti-American rhetoric. The massive anti-American protests
in Gaza on Wednesday were followed by an RPG attack against an American
school in northern Gaza early Thursday morning. Moreover, Bush's visit was
greeted by a ferocious shelling of southern Israel with rockets and mortars.
For its part, the Palestinian Authority government led by Mahmoud Abbas
stepped up its own anti-Israel propaganda drive in December. According to a
Palestinian Media Watch report, Abbas's television station intensified its
rhetoric calling for the destruction of Israel by advocating the
"liberation" of Haifa, Tiberias, Acre and Tel Aviv. Then too, in his press
conference with Bush, Abbas restated his hope of renewing negotiations with
Hamas over control of Gaza.
Noting that his government spends 59 percent of its Israeli- and
internationally-funded budget in Gaza, Abbas stated that if Hamas were to
agree to roll back its control over Gaza, "recognize international
legitimacy, all international legitimacy, and… recognize the Arab
Initiative, as well… we will have another talk."
Then too, Fatah's own terrorist forces in Judea and Samaria have not ceased
their efforts to join their Gazan and Lebanese counterparts in their missile
war against Israel. Last week's major IDF operation in Nablus was directed
against Fatah terror squads which had begun producing rockets to attack
central Israel.
With Bush's arrival in Israel on Wednesday, the Sunni terrorist groups'
Shi'ite counterparts launched their own rhetorical attacks against the US
and Israel. Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a televised speech on
Wednesday excoriating Bush for his support and recognition of Israel.
Against the backdrop of "Death to America and Israel" chants from the crowd,
Nasrallah intoned, "Bush is a faker, who fails to protect the Arabs from the
real murderer and instead argues that he wishes to defend them from a
fictitious enemy. He is attempting to convince our Arab and Muslim people of
a bogus danger. It's a deception."
Nasrallah's Iraqi counterpart Muqtada el Sadr made a call on Wednesday for
Arab leaders to boycott Bush. Sadr condemned Bush and the US stating, "You
brought the wars and you can't bring peace. . . . Get out of our land and
you will be safe from us."
Addressing Arab leaders Sadr said, "Don't be partners responsible for the
blood of your own people. If you will accept his visit, then you are
collaborating with him on the blood of your brothers in Palestine, Iraq and
others."
The jihadists' state sponsors — Syria and Iran — also took pains to
demonstrate their anti-American and anti-Israel animus. As Bush landed in
Israel, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's representative Ali Larijani
was rounding off a week-long official visit to Syria. There he met with
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and reasserted Iran's strategic alliance with
Syria. He also met with representatives of Iran's terrorist and political
proxies headquartered in Syria and Lebanon. Larijani held talks with the
heads of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian groups as well as
representatives of Hizbullah and the Lebanese Shiite Amal militia and
political party.
Finally, a week after US military spokesmen in Iraq released contradictory
statements about Iran's continued support for the insurgency in the country,
Iranian forces directly challenged US naval forces in the Straits of Hormuz.
Although US leaders angrily referred to the Iranian operation as a dangerous
provocation, a more constructive way to view the Iranian attack on US naval
ships is as a probe.
The Iranians probed both the US's defenses and its willingness to take
action against Iranian aggression. Whereas the ships apparently demonstrated
their readiness to engage, in their decision not to open fire on the Iranian
boats, they signaled clearly that the US is unwilling to actually fight
Iran.
Today in Iraq US forces are concentrating their efforts not on Iranian
proxies but on Syrian-supported al Qaida in Iraq units and cells. After
flushing al Qaida forces out of their former sanctuaries and operating bases
in Anbar Province and Baghdad, Tuesday US forces mounted a major offensive
against al Qaida in its current operational hub in Diyala province.
Apparently tipped off in advance of the attack, most of the terror
operatives reportedly fled the area ahead of the US offensive after laying
roadside bombs and booby traps in the towns they abandoned.
Rather than contend with the destructive power and influence of
Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias in southern Iraq to US strategic interests,
US military commanders and US diplomatic chiefs in Iraq brush them off as an
internal Iraqi affair. US diplomats maintain open relations with Sadr's
representatives in Baghdad in spite of his overt incitement against the US
and its efforts in Iraq.
And after the confrontation between the US navy and Iranian forces in the
Straits of Hormuz, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced that the
US would soon begin a fourth round of talks with Iran about the situation in
Iraq. Zebari announced that these talks - the most intensive to date - will
include discussions of how to control militias, how to cooperate in fighting
militant networks and monitor the border, and how to prevent the flow of
weapons, money and fighters through Iraq's borders. Given Iran's bellicosity
in threatening US naval ships in one of the most vital waterways in the
world, it is hard to see why the US would believe that Iranian cooperation
in policing and defeating its own proxy forces in Iraq would advance US
interests in the country or in the larger war.
Bush stated that he has come to the Middle East to promote peace between
Israel and the Palestinians and to ensure US allies that the US is committed
to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Yet on both scores US
actions do not accord with the President's message.
On the Palestinian front, his calls for Israeli concessions to the
Palestinians and for Palestinian statehood make little sense given the
central role that Palestinians play in the global jihad. Bush repeatedly
stated that he will not support a Palestinian state that will serve as a
base for terror operations against Israel. And yet, under the current
circumstances when all Palestinian forces - from Fatah to Hamas to al Qaida
- are committed to Israel's violent destruction, there is no chance that a
Palestinian state will be anything other than a base for terrorist attacks
and not only against Israel.
Even if Israel were to conclude an agreement with Abbas that sets out the
contours of a Palestinian state in the next year, such an agreement would
not engender peace. Given the current jihadist state of Palestinian society
as a whole, such an agreement would simply serve to empower jihadists still
more.
As to Iran, Bush's decision to visit the Middle East was made immediately
after the National Intelligence Estimate effectively removed his most potent
threat against Iran's nuclear ambitions. The thought was that by visiting
the region, Bush would be able to convince US Middle East allies that
America is still serious about thwarting Iran's nuclear and regional
ambitions despite the NIE. Unfortunately, the US navy's refusal to open fire
on the Iranian boats in the Straits of Hormuz and America's continued
refusal to combat Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq send the opposite
message.
In their statements and actions in the run-up to Bush's visit, jihadist
groups and state sponsors made clear that they are serious about fighting
their war for regional and indeed global domination. Had Bush acknowledged
their plans and expressed a strategic plan for countering their actions and
intentions, his visit here could have gone a long way towards cementing
alliances to combat and defeat them. Unfortunately, both Bush's statements
and US actions on the ground give the jihadists every reason to believe that
they will be able to continue their war without fear of America.
JWR contributor Caroline B. Glick is the senior Middle East Fellow at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC and the deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post. Comment by clicking here.
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