Iraq to become a 'fortress of Islam"

[DickHardman]

14 hours ago

DUBAI (AFP) — Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri urged Muslims to make Iraq a "fortress of Islam" in an audio message marking the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion.

In a nearly 16 minute message posted on the Internet, Zawahiri accused Shiite Iran of seeking to annex southern Iraq and slammed the Egyptian government for "starving" its people as part of a "Zionist-American plan

He called on extremists to fight to create a greater Muslim state after US President George W. Bush had admitted the "failure of the Crusader invasion".

"We will only get our rights back with our own hands and not through beggary or fraudulent elections," he said, according to a summary released by the US-based SITE monitoring service.

The message posted on Islamist militant websites contained a reference to April 8 testimony to the US Congress by the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus.

"Bush declared that he will give Petraeus all the time he needs ... which allows Bush to escape the decision to withdraw forces. By passing the problem to the next president, Bush is declaring the failure of the Crusader invasion of Iraq," Zawahiri said.

He mocked the US-backed Sunni Arab local groups formed to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

"So where are the Awakening Councils that Petraeus announced six months ago will achieve victory in Iraq? ... Are these Awakening Councils in need of someone to defend them and protect them?" Zawahiri asked.

On Thursday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd mourning two members of one of the councils, killing at least 51 people in one of the biggest insurgent attacks this year.

"Very soon Iraq will become the fortress of Islam, wherefrom will start missions and brigades for the liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque" in Jerusalem, said Zawahiri, considered the leading ideologist of the Sunni organisation.

"Iran has clear goals, which is the annexation of southern Iraq and the east of the (Arabian) Peninsula, and to expand in order to be able to communicate with its followers in southern Lebanon," Zawahiri said.

He said a plot against Iraq by the United States and Iran would lead to the Middle East region exploding.

"If an understanding with it (Iran) is reached on the basis of accomplishing all or some of its goals in return for keeping a blind eye on the American hegemony in the area, this understanding will add fuel to the fire ... The situation will explode an already enflamed region," Zawahiri said.

While Zawahiri lambasted Iran, a senior hardline cleric there was trumpeting what he said should be the Shiite country's role in defending Islam.

"In a not so distant future, we should reach a point of having the most powerful military equipment in the world so that no one even think about invading our borders," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said in a Friday prayer sermon.

"And not only that of the Islamic republic, but also the borders of Islam ... We must defend oppressed Muslims everywhere so that the enemies do not dare to attack Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq."

Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant referred to clashes between protesters and police in the Egyptian industrial city of Mahallah earlier this month, implicitly accusing the Egyptian government of conniving with Israel and the United States to keep the Hamas-run Gaza Strip under siege.

"Those who steal the livelihood of the people of Egypt are those who are denying food to the people of Gaza under the pretext of suspect international commitments with the Jews and the Americans," he said.

"In so doing, Israel achieves monopoly over supplies to Gaza to force its people to surrender to their conditions," Zawahiri said in the audio attributed to him.

"Starving the people of Egypt .... is part of a Zionist-American plan."

It was Zawahiri's second audio message this month. On April 2, he launched a blistering attack on the United Nations. He also said that bin Laden, who like him has evaded capture, was still alive.
AFP: Zawahiri says Iraq will become 'fortress of Islam': audio

[DickHardman]

Ex-Rumsfeld deputy describes Iraq as 'major debacle'

Iraq_report The Iraq war has turned into a "major debacle," a former Pentagon official writes in a report published by the National Defense University in Washington.

"Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle," Joseph Collins writes at the beginning of his 60-page article.

Collins, a retired Army colonel, served as a senior DoD official under Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld.

Among the conclusions he reaches in Choosing War: The Decision to Invade Iraq and Its Aftermath:

Globally, U.S. standing among friends and allies has fallen. Our status as a moral leader has been damaged by the war, the subsequent occupation of a Muslim nation, and various issues concerning the treatment of detainees. At the same time, operations in Iraq have had a negative impact on all other efforts in the war on terror, which must bow to the priority of Iraq when it comes to manpower, materiel, and the attention of decisionmakers. Our Armed Forces—especially the Army and Marine Corps—have been severely strained by the war in Iraq. Compounding all of these problems, our efforts there were designed to enhance U.S. national security, but they have become, at least temporarily, an incubator for terrorism and have emboldened Iran to expand its influence throughout the Middle East. As this case study is being written, despite impressive progress in security during the surge, the outcome of the war is in doubt.

... To date, the war in Iraq is a classic case of failure to adopt and adapt prudent courses of action that balance ends, ways, and means. After the major combat operation, U.S. policy has been insolvent, with inadequate means for pursuing ambitious ends. It is also a case where the perceived illegitimacy of our policy has led the United States to bear a disproportionate share of the war’s burden. U.S. efforts in Iraq stand in stark contrast to the war in Afghanistan, where, to the surprise of many, U.S. friends and allies have recently taken up a larger share of the burden of that conflict. Afghanistan has become the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) war, but the war in Iraq has increasingly become only a U.S. and Iraqi struggle.

... The central finding of this study is that U.S. efforts in Iraq were hobbled by a set of faulty assumptions, a flawed planning effort, and a continuing inability to create security conditions in Iraq that could have fostered meaningful advances in stabilization, reconstruction, and governance. It is arguable whether the Iraqis will develop the wherewithal to create ethnic reconciliation and build a coherent national government. It is clear, however, that the United States and its partners have not done enough to create conditions in which such a development could take place. With the best of intentions, the United States toppled a vile, dangerous regime but has been unable to replace it with a stable entity. Mistakes in the Iraq operation cry out for improvements in the U.S. decisionmaking and policy execution systems. In turn, these improvements will require major changes in the legislative and executive branches, as well as in interagency processes.

McClatchy Newspapers, the first to report on this article, says Collins goes on to blame his former bosses for many of the problems at the outset of hostilities. He writes that "senior national security officials exhibited in many instances an imperious attitude, exerting power and pressure where diplomacy and bargaining might have had a better effect," according to McClatchy.

Ex-Rumsfeld deputy describes Iraq as 'major debacle' - On Deadline - USATODAY.com