Al Qaeda attempting to establish Iraqi presence?

[Master of Ossus]

CNN reported recently that an Al Qaeda leader was apprehended as he attempted to enter Iraq.

Is this evidence that Al Qaeda is attempting to establish a presence within Iraq? Does Al Qaeda already have such a presence? How dangerous do you think this will be?

[mauldooku]

It's worth noting, but seeing as how there's little to no evidence linking Al-Quaeda to Iraq, I don't see this as a major threat.

Weren't the Saddam regime and Al-Quaeda mortal enemies, anyway?

[Master of Ossus]

It's worth noting, but seeing as how there's little to no evidence linking Al-Quaeda to Iraq, I don't see this as a major threat.

Weren't the Saddam regime and Al-Quaeda mortal enemies, anyway?

Saddam's relationship with Al Qaeda has become irrelevant because of his ousting and subsequent capture. The question now posed is: is Al Qaeda attempting to establish a presence in Iraq?

[mauldooku]

It's worth noting, but seeing as how there's little to no evidence linking Al-Quaeda to Iraq, I don't see this as a major threat.

Weren't the Saddam regime and Al-Quaeda mortal enemies, anyway?

Saddam's relationship with Al Qaeda has become irrelevant because of his ousting and subsequent capture. The question now posed is: is Al Qaeda attempting to establish a presence in Iraq?

I guess it helps to read posts over again, eh? My bad.

It's possible, but I'm not quite sure Al-quaeda has the manpower/resources necessary to establish a presence. Small, random acts of violence? Sure.

[Howedar]

I'm sure they are. I doubt it will make any difference other than adding a few new guerillas, though.

[SyntaxVorlon]

Now that Saddam is gone and Iraq is a hotbed of pro/antiamerican controversy and conflict with plenty of drought and starvation and general hardship, it would be the perfect place for al queda to set up camp, if of course we weren't there. One more reason why american forces are going to be required there for at least 10 years.

[Durandal]

CNN reported recently that an Al Qaeda leader was apprehended as he attempted to enter Iraq.

Is this evidence that Al Qaeda is attempting to establish a presence within Iraq? Does Al Qaeda already have such a presence? How dangerous do you think this will be?

I don't think it's evidence of a previous al Qaeda presence, but Iraq would be the perfect place to start up an underground al Qaeda movement. Al Qaeda didn't really like Hussein, but now that he's been captured, whoever has taken his place as the head honcho in the Iraqi resistance may have expressed interest in having al Qaeda's help and promising the make Iraq a fundamentalist Arab state if/when they took it back.

Iraq presents a far more practical and amenable target for al Qaeda. We've got a lot of soldiers over there, and the area is ripe for guerrilla attacks. If al Qaeda could hurt us just enough to make the country no longer worth our time, we might have another Vietnam. The US' image around the world plummets, the War on Terror suffers a disastrous failure, and al Qaeda gains another ally.

[Gil Hamilton]

Al-Qaeda would be foolish not to try to set up an Iraqi chapter now that Saddam is gone.

[tharkûn]

Not to be callous towards the men and women serving in Iraq nor the Iraqi civillians caught between sides ... but isn't better to have Al Queada devoting its resources towards attacking soldiers than having them go after more civillians?

If you were given a choice between an Al Queada leader trying to blow up a nightclub or the same leader trying to blow up a marine convoy ... would you not pick the convoy? If nothing else, they are taking on targets better equipped to fight back and kill the bastards.

[Rogue 9]

Newsweek reported that Al Qaeda was pulling men out of Afghanistan and cutting payments to the Taliban in half in preparation to move into Iraq.

[Sarevok]

Al-Queda is trying to set operations in every Muslim country. So this is hardly surprising that they decided to enter Iraq. The ant-american occupation insurgency in Iraq is the type of thing Al-Queda loves.

[Sarevok]

Not to be callous towards the men and women serving in Iraq nor the Iraqi civillians caught between sides ... but isn't better to have Al Queada devoting its resources towards attacking soldiers than having them go after more civillians?

If you were given a choice between an Al Queada leader trying to blow up a nightclub or the same leader trying to blow up a marine convoy ... would you not pick the convoy? If nothing else, they are taking on targets better equipped to fight back and kill the bastards.

That might not make a difference. Al-Queda is not stupid enough to hit hard targets like main battle tanks or attack the Americans in a direct way. They will probobly do what the Insurgents do, use IEDs, fire mortars at US bases, sniper attacks, car bombs etc.

[HemlockGrey]

Is there any information as to whether Al-Quaeda's attrition is resulting in a net loss, or if its gaining recruits?

[Durandal]

Al-Queda is trying to set operations in every Muslim country. So this is hardly surprising that they decided to enter Iraq. The ant-american occupation insurgency in Iraq is the type of thing Al-Queda loves.

I don't think that the insurgency is a single-unified force. It's probably more of a few collective cells that aren't coordinating. Though it's possible that al Qaeda may be trying to unify them and equip them.

[Sarevok]

Al-Queda is trying to set operations in every Muslim country. So this is hardly surprising that they decided to enter Iraq. The ant-american occupation insurgency in Iraq is the type of thing Al-Queda loves.

I don't think that the insurgency is a single-unified force. It's probably more of a few collective cells that aren't coordinating. Though it's possible that al Qaeda may be trying to unify them and equip them.

The insurgency is the term used to describe the sperate factions fighting US military in Iraq. Al-Queda may try to unify them but I think they will fail due to differences between various groups.