July 25, 2007

Two al Qaedas? This vs. That al Qaeda

I'm sorry, but this whole discussion of the links between this al Qaeda (in Iraq) and that al Qaeda (in Pakistan) is both uninformed about the nature of the worldwide Salafi jihad and about the organizational structure of al Qaeda in general. To speak of "linkages" between this al Qaeda and that al Qaeda is to imply that each organization is hierarchically run with some sort of intermediary running messages from "commanders" in Pakistan to "subcommanders" in Iraq.

It's simply not the case. Al Qaeda hasn't been hierarchically organized for years, long before the Iraq war. They simply don't have the ability to organize hierarchically. Even with a safe haven in Pakistan for the past year, its awfully difficult to to maintain span of control over jihadis in Afghanistan, Iraq, Algeria, Europe, and elsewhere from a cave in Waziristan or an internet cafe in Quetta.

It's also a misnomer to think of the al Qaeda as the terrorist threat. There are dozens and dozens of groups with the exact same ideology as al Qaeda, all intent to do harm on various societies around the globe, all of which believe intentionally killing civilians is an acceptable method of doing that harm.

Does it really matter to terrorist victims in Algeria whether those bombing them were calling themselves The Salafist Group for Call and Combat or al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb? Same group, different name, and victims just as dead.

So, too, does it really matter whether the people beheading "apostates" (Shia), "traitors" (Sunnis working with Iraqi government), and "crusaders" (any non-Muslim foreigner working with Iraqi government) call themselves Ansar al-Islam, Tawhid wal Jihad, The Mujahideen Shura Council, The Islamic State of Iraq, or al Qaeda in Iraq? Same people, different name, and victims just as dead.

It also doesn't matter whether the person murdering the Korean hostage is a "home-grown" member of the "Taliban" or a "foreign" member of "al Qaeda". In the end, both "groups" want the same thing and are willing to use the same methods.

Further, those arguing that President Bush is overstating al Qaeda's part in the Iraqi insurgency really should be grabbed by the collar and dragged down to the Pentagon for weekly briefings. Yes, there are "nationalist" Sunni Arab insurgent groups, but there are also non-al Qaeda affiliated Salafist organizations in Iraq too.

Somehow I don't think Red Cross worker Enzo Baldoni would take solace in the fact that his murderers in the The Islamic Army in Iraq no longer work with al Qaeda in Iraq. Nor do I think that Akihiko Saito would really care that Ansar al-Sunnah decided not to join al Qaeda's umbrella organization after Zarqawi's death.

There are a few Sunni groups which are not Salafist jihadis of the al Qaeda stripe, but some of those are now working with us. But by far the greatest threat to our troops comes from the Salafis.

Last, and what started me thinking about this post, is the misnomer that before Abu Musab al Zarqawi "pledged allegiance" to Osama bin Laden, there were no links between the jihadis in Iraq and the al Qaeda. In fact, Abu Musab al Zarqawi came to Iraq from Afghanistan. He only joined the fighting with Ansar al-Islam, which was the Kurdish face of the global Salafi jihad, after he left the al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.

And we have the documents to prove it. The original documents can be found here. As Laura Mansfield reminded me today, Iraqi intelligence documents identify a cell of al Qaeda working in Iraq prior to the invasion, headed by Abu Musab al Zarqawi who is identified as member of "Tanzeem al Qaeda", or the "Al Qaeda Organization". The memo is dated August 17, 2002.

So, whether or not that al Qaeda ordered Abu Musab al Zarqawi to personally behead Nick Berg really misses the point. And whether or not that al Qaeda ordered this al Qaeda to recruit Indian doctors for jihad in Britain, also misses the point. All terrorists who consider themselves "al Qaeda" are a threat. And those terrorists who don't consider themselves "al Qaeda", but have the same ideology, goals, and methods are also a threat.

And even if al Qaeda in Iraq was a totally home grown bunch of jihadis, it still misses the point. Because when the next plane hits the White House, it will be of little comfort to know that the Iraqi pilot didn't get his orders from Zawahiri's cave in Waziristan.