Iraq Is Central Front in GWOT to Bin Laden
To all those who think Iraq is a distraction in the greater war on terror, Bin Laden and Al Zawahiri would beg to differ.
In Bin Laden’s December 27, 2004 tape he described the battle in Iraq as world war three.
Ayman al Zawahiri wrote to the now deceased Abu Musab al-Zaraqwi:
“I want to be the first to congratulate you for what God has blessed you with in terms of fighting battle in the heart of the Islamic world, which was formerly the field for major battles in Islam’s history, and what is now the place for the greatest battle of Islam in this era, and what will happen, according to what appeared in the Hadiths of the Messenger of God about the epic battles between Islam and atheism.”
Zawawhiri continued:
“As for the battles that are going on in the far-flung regions of the Islamic world, such as Chechnya, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Bosnia, they are just the groundwork and the vanguard for the major battles which have begun in the heart of the Islamic world.”
And then lays out his plans for the Caliphate:
“If our intended goal in this age is the establishment of a caliphate in the manner of the Prophet and if we expect to establish its state predominantly-according to how it appears to us-in the heart of the Islamic world, then your efforts and sacrifices-God permitting-are a large step directly towards that goal.
“The first stage: Expel the Americans from Iraq.”
Zawawhiri also said:
“The jihad movement is growing and rising. It reached its peak with the two blessed raids on New York and Washington. Now it is waging a great historic battle in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and even within the Crusaders’ own homes.”
It is obvious from the above statements by Al Qaida’s leaders that they view the war in Iraq as central to the war on terror.
So central, that expelling the coaltion is their top priority.
It is their top priority because they rely on esteem to survive–to keep jihad going.
If they cannot expel the crusaders from the land of two rivers, the home of the caliphate in the manner of the prophet, then their movement fizzles.
Their whole sales pitch, going back to this fatwa, is that America is weak and that Allah willing, Jihadists will win.
But something happened along they way that they didn’t expect, a little bit of Sun Tzu being used by the coalition:
“Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.”
The invasion of Iraq was about more than WMD, Saddam, sanctions violations, etc. It was about putting the jihadists on desperate ground–literally.
Master Sun described desperate ground as the ground where the only chance you have to win is giving up all hope of living. And since so many of them proclaim to be lovers of death, why not give them some desperate ground close to home?
When I was in Iraq last Summer there were Chechens, Somalis, Egyptians, Saudis and Syrians running aroune Iraq fighting for AQI.
If the jihadists fail in Iraq, a lot of their fellow travellers will drop the cause.
In many ways, the invasion of Iraq was a 4th Generation Warfare gambit.
If the coalition prevails over the long haul, a lot of muslims sympathetic to the Jihadists are likely to give up on the idea of a caliphate and sharia being the only source of laws on earth.
And AQI is using 4GW back on us.
It is a shame that the media do not understand 4GW, or they would see that the poll’s they cites as reason to claim Iraq has nothing to do with the GWOT are the exact goal of 4GW warfare.
If they understood Sun Tzu and 4GW, they would realize they are the battle space.
Or at least, they could read the selected works of Syed Qutb and understand the philosophical roots of Jihadism.
(A version of this article first appeared on freestatemedia.org)