Thursday, June 15, 2006

does al qaeda in iraq exist?

* via josh:
"John Boehner's spokesman, Kevin Madden, got back to us on how his boss won $2,700 on a slot machine in Michigan, per our earlier Openers item.
It seems Boehner was driving through Michigan on a political trip "and stopped off to use a bathroom at the particular casino rest stop. While there he played a slot machine that hit a return. This was in August of last year.""
* juancole:
"In almost surreal rhetoric, Bush said Iranian interference in Iraqi affairs must be curtailed. He said this after the Iraqi vice president and the head of the biggest bloc in parliament both went off to Tehran and praised Iran's stabilizing role. If Bush thinks that Shiite Iranians are the problem in fanatically Sunni Ramadi and Adhamiyah, we're in even bigger trouble than I thought."
* arkin:
"Rashid reports moreover that nation building in Afghanistan exists in words only; the U.S. military and NATO spend billions while basic needs and initiatives go unfunded. Heroin trafficking is the main source of revenue and the new financier of terrorism, as Russia, the Central Asian republics, Pakistan, and even Iran and India fund Afghan proxies and support the drug trade."
is he leaving anyone out?

* arkin:
"Washington conventional wisdom on al Qaeda is thus wrong on two counts: First, al Qaeda is not really denied sanctuary in Afghanistan and Pakistan and it is not dead. Second, al Qaeda is far more inspiration for what goes on in Iraq than civil war fighters or counter-insurgency theorists want to admit."
sheesh.

* cnni is running some stories asking whether the new leader of "al qaeda in iraq" actually exists! are you seeing that in the US?

4 comments:

Don said...

Heroin trafficking is the main source of revenue and the new financier of terrorism, as Russia, the Central Asian republics, Pakistan, and even Iran and India fund Afghan proxies and support the drug trade.

Which would, by common modern definition be Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. UNESCO throws in Afghanistan and and Mongolia, plus parts of China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and India. In other words, Arkin's listed almost all of the Turkic regions.

is he leaving anyone out?

In that collection, the only major Turkic region missing is Turkey.

Anonymous said...

If there is al Qaeda in Iraq it is probably a creation of our own CIA, just like the wider "al Qaeda.".

Miguel said...

"Heroin trafficking is the main source of revenue and the new financier of terrorism"

What's "new" about al Qaeda using drugs as its main source of funding?

lukery said...

don: "In that collection, the only major Turkic region missing is Turkey."
i presume that was satire - and dont forget the USG

Ewastud: if you can believe it - even MORE than the wider "al Qaeda.".

Miguel - NOOOOOOOOOOOOO - it's the secret charities that are the problem!