While the western industrialized nations play in the sandbox (Iraq) and draw imaginary border lines in the sand...
"This message is the final warning to European states. We want to give you a one-month deadline to bring your soldiers out from the land of Mesopotamia." - Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, July 16
Asia Times Online has learned that members of the Iraqi resistance, comprising mostly Ba'athists who have melted into various Islamic groups in Iraq, and Taliban and al-Qaeda members of the Afghan resistance met several months ago in Baghdad, where they reconfirmed strategies for their common goals.
Asia Times via Information Clearing House:
Jihad without borders
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002 at yahoo.com
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9535.htm
07/21/05 "Asia Times" - - KARACHI - A line connects the resistance strategy of Iraq's Ba'athists and Afghanistan's Taliban militias as they both draw on the same blueprint in their struggle against US-led forces in their respective countries.
Significantly, their roadmap, conceived in the mountains between Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area and Afghanistan and in the southern parts of Baghdad, involves taking their battles to the home countries of the invading forces.
The bomb attacks in London on July 7 can be viewed as the first manifestation of this approach.
The Jaishul al-Qiba al-Jihadi al-Siri al-Alami was formed in South Waziristan in the middle of 2003. Ansarul Sunnah was formed in the southern parts of Baghdad at about the same time. The organizations include Kurds, Arabs, Pakistanis and Afghans committed to fighting against the US and its allies all over the world, by any means.
The two organizations have established recruiting outlets throughout the world to generate finances and, crucially, to ensure a steady supply of recruits to training centers established in Samarra and Fallujah in Iraq and in South Waziristan.
Interrogation of some of Jaishul Qiba's arrested men in Karachi revealed that they have divided the organization in several cells and given them different names. One name was Jundullah, whose members carried out an attack on a corps commander's motorcade in Karachi last year. They were subsequently arrested.
Ansarul Sunnah basically draws its leadership from Mosul and Sulemanyia, but now central Iraq is its playing field. Its initial leaders were Kurds from the Ansar ul-Islam, but later many Ba'athist and other Islamic Arab groups merged into Ansarul Sunnah.
During military action in South Waziristan in late 2004 and early this year, in which Pakistani troops entered the volatile area in search of foreign fighters and al-Qaeda figures, the army discovered a film studio where propaganda CDs were being developed in Arabic, English and Pashto. Video clips viewed by this correspondent included instructions about developing explosives and their applications. The clips also included scenes of fighting between Pakistani troops and tribals.
The productions were clearly identifiable as being those of the Jaishul Qiba. US forces have recovered similar material from Samarra in Iraq.
Asia Times Online has learned that members of the Iraqi resistance, comprising mostly Ba'athists who have melted into various Islamic groups in Iraq, and Taliban and al-Qaeda members of the Afghan resistance met several months ago in Baghdad, where they reconfirmed strategies for their common goals.
Asia Times Online has reported in detail on Mullah Mehmood Haq Yar, an expert in guerrilla and urban warfare, (see Revival of the Taliban, April 9) and how Taliban leader Mullah Omar sent him to Iraq before the war. There, he interacted with Islamic groups in northern Iraq before returning to Afghanistan to introduce similar tactics to those of the Iraqi resistance.
In essence, this involves the elimination of a central command, and breaking the resistance into small groups which then engage in guerrilla activity on an independent basis. This decentralization is the guarantee of their security and successful clandestine operations.
The lawless situation in the Pakistan-Afghan border areas, and in Iraq, provide ample opportunities for the resistance to bring in youths from all over the world and train them.
Security analysts in Pakistan confirm to Asia Times Online that it is true that youths have been coming to South Waziristan's camps from all over the world to be trained, before returning to their countries of residence.
Three of the four London bombers were British Muslims of Pakistani descent and, officials say, they entered Pakistan through the southern city of Karachi last year. The fourth attacker was a Jamaican-born Briton. Immigration authorities have said that two bombers, Shahzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan, arrived together at Karachi airport November 19 and left almost three months later. The third bomber, 18-year-old Hasib Hussain, arrived last July via Saudi Arabia but his point of departure has not been established, according to immigration officials.
There are no confirmed reports at this stage that the London bombers attended camps in South Waziristan, although it is thought they visited madrassas (Islamic seminaries).
Pakistan analysts stress, however, that what has been dug up by various foreign intelligence agencies is scattered information that fails to focus on the broader perspective of London's blasts, and how they were different from September 11.
"The resistance is a global franchise beyond the bounds of specific geography. It is a human instinct that has been triggered. So when Muslim youths saw destruction through daisy-cutter bombs and other weapons of destruction, they formulated their targets according to their resources and locations," said former director general of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, retired Lieutenant General Hamid Gul.
"This global franchise of resistance is a truth of the day. Now the West blames madrassas, but the fact of the matter is that the youths allegedly identified in incidents [in London] were all educated in Western education centers, very much like the top al-Qaeda leadership. One or two visits to a seminary has nothing to do with the radicalization of a youth. It is more related to the reactions of the individuals [to events]. Social details available on the youths tell that they were very much part and parcel of British society. They lived like Brits, had girlfriends and all the other things common in British society," Gul commented.
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