Comment:

Imminent Al Qaeda Attack Warning is Apparent

Global stability is always diminished by war in any measure. 

Arguably war has as one of its purposes the eventual improvement in at least regional stability by removing an unreasoned threat to the peace. Such should have been the case with Iraq, but we must now focus on the home front as well.

If the chaos in Iraq has allowed the secondary proliferation of chemical and nuclear warfare materiel, global stability may be a bygone concept.

Notwithstanding fears of secondary proliferation, before events in Iraq yield any sort of improvement in regional stability, a major battle must be fought: the 'Al Qaeda movement' versus the United States of America.

The timing of this battle is now. 

It will last until at least June 30, says AL Qaeda in an intercepted communiqué to Usama Bin Laden about the strategy for Al Qaeda-aligned combatants in Iraq opposing U.S. and pro-liberation forces there (Kill Americans and Shiites.).

Those who still don't believe Al Qaeda is influencing the insurgency in Iraq should take a close look at the simultaneous detonations of car bombs in various locations in Basra and Zubair, Iraq this morning. It smacks of Al Qaeda-style training. The well-planned attacks are almost certainly signed by Ahmad Al-Khalayla (a.k.a. Al-Zarkawi) (see also Video: American Hostage Beheaded by Zarkawi?) who has pleaded to Usama Bin Laden that he must kill Shiites in Iraq whom as a collective group have taken the side of the "Crusaders" (Americans).

Al Qaeda mass murders Muslims when that is convenient to its maniacal goals.

Ahmad Al-Khalayla (Abu Musab Zarkawi) an Ansar al-Islamist has been credited with authoring a rambling strategic doctrine for the disruption and or defeat of coalition forces in Iraq. The document was intercepted by Kurdish intelligence officers. 

Al-Khalayla is also viewed as somewhat of a loose canon in the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. He advocates killing Shiites in Iraq which belies Al Qaeda's extensive preaching about defending Muslims (so-called brothers). 

Al-Khalayla (a.k.a. Zarkawi) who has a 'wooden' leg as a result of injuries sustained during the Taliban ouster in Afghanistan, is better known as Abu Musab Zarkawi. Al-Khalyla is allegedly Usama bin Laden's Jordanian chief of operations. He is believed to be entrenched in Iraq stirring up trouble.

According to intelligence gained from the testimony of the 125 captured Al Qaeda contacts of Al-Khalayla, this Ansar al-Islamist is a key player in Al Qaeda's chemical warfare effort. The fact of his presence and apparent authority on behalf of Al Qaeda in the region is truly noteworthy and foreboding.

Al-Khalayla (Abu Musab Zarkawi) has been sniffing around Syria and Iraq in the past year or so seeking to advance the secondary proliferation of Iraq's chemical warfare programme. Ansar al-Islam, to which he is a patron, ran an extensive camp featuring a range of chemical labs in Northern Iraq near the Iranian border. 

One must wonder how much of the missing radioactive material stolen from the Tuwaitha nuclear site southwest of Baghdad has fallen into Al Qaeda hands. (Although it has low potency it does pose a threat as a terrorist's psychological weapon.) The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has complained that the facilities at Tuwaitha where tons of low-grade uranium are stored has not been properly guarded.

The missing elements of Iraq's chemical weapons programmes, be they large stockpiles or small caches, are apparently missing. Certainly no one has raised the blue flag to say, "Here it is!" save a few Iraqi looters who responded to an award offering. The bulk of the unaccounted radioactive material is missing.

Al Qaeda has vowed to kill at least 4 million Americans and is seeking ways to achieve that goal. 

America is not included in Usama Bin Laden's offer (See "Bin Laden's statement...".) made  last week to Europe for three months stay of attacks while Europe considers an offer of truce in exchange for withdrawing from the Bush-led "Global War on Terrorism." The statement emphatically excluded the U.S. 

This can be read as a warning.

We should not let the rising bloodshed in Iraq totally persuade our view away from the home front as we head toward June 30. Standing guard with watchful eyes in North America needs to be everyone's responsibility.

Micheal O'Brien, Editor