Thursday, June 15, 2006
Kicking them when they're down
Austin Bay makes a funny:
Read this CNN report on an Iraqi government claim that Al Qaeda intends to exploit US and Iranian “hostilities.” The Iraqi government says the information came from computer files (on hard drives, thumb drives, etc) found after the raid on Zarqawi. (CNN says it cannot confirm the claim. That’s interesting. I don’t recall CNN adding that caveat when Eason Jordan kept the CNN Baghdad bureau open during Saddam Hussein’s rule.)
Brutal, but hilarious.
MORE: The linked article, by the way, is well worth reading, as is Austin Bay's commentary. The sum and substance, though, is that the government of Iraq is touting captured evidence that al Qaeda in Iraq has low morale, is on the run, and has been trying to exploit tensions between the United States and Iran. As Austin points out, this accomplishes three objectives. It discredits al Qaeda (which regular readers know is a longstanding priority of mine), it calls Iran out, and -- this is Austin's sharpest point -- it gives Iran an out. If the mullahs decide to quit supporting the radical Shiites in Iraq, they can cover their strategic retreat by claiming that al Qaeda deceived them into it.
There is a final point that Austin did not mention, but that I am sure has also occurred to him: the United States almost certainly supported and may have indeed prompted Iraq's statements regarding Iran. We want Iraq to confront Iran, but to do so in a way that gives Iran the cover to retreat with dignity. Today's statements are therefore signals in the ongoing negotiation among Iran, the United States and Iraqis of various loyalties over the division of power and influence in post Ba'athist Iraq.
3 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu Jun 15, 11:52:00 PM:
Give Iran the #1 Hot Seat in the area. Given that they are the hotline to Little terrior boys around the globe. My question is were will the mullahs hide all their "Big Money" when the time comes?
By 
cakreiz, at
Fri Jun 16, 06:54:00 AM:
This is where the MSM's right-wing critics have a valid point. Had documents been uncovered that al Qaeda's moral was soaringly confident, there's no doubt it would've been trumpeted by every media outlet. In contrast, this positive news has received relatively modest play. It hasn't been ignored completely, to be sure. But Abu Ghraib, for example, was on the NYT's front page for 47 straight days.
By Dawnfire82, at
Fri Jun 16, 07:01:00 PM:
I think of this as an accompaniment to a, "Your guys aren't going to win, back out now while you still can, you don't want to fight us" message.
