The Sunni/Shia split and the battle for the mantle of Islam
There's a battle for the mantle of militant Islam that has been going on over the last few years. The growing Sunni-Shia split is also manifesting itself as a struggle between the primarily Sunni Al Qaeda and the Shia resistance forces mainly focused on Israel, Hezbullah, Hamas, etc.
There have been irregular reports for some time that some of the more fanatic militant Islam supporters had been growing disenchanted with Al Qaeda because of its failure to follow up 9-11 with another big attack. Watching Bin Laden and Zawahiri's statements over the last year, they have tried to coopt the "Israel cause" into their manifesto to gain support.
But now with Hezbullah's seeming success in stalemating the Israelis, the center of gravity has been pushed well over onto the Shia side.
Seemingly, the interdicted London airliner attacks were an effort by Al Qaeda to regain the forward position.
There have been irregular reports for some time that some of the more fanatic militant Islam supporters had been growing disenchanted with Al Qaeda because of its failure to follow up 9-11 with another big attack. Watching Bin Laden and Zawahiri's statements over the last year, they have tried to coopt the "Israel cause" into their manifesto to gain support.
But now with Hezbullah's seeming success in stalemating the Israelis, the center of gravity has been pushed well over onto the Shia side.
Seemingly, the interdicted London airliner attacks were an effort by Al Qaeda to regain the forward position.
posted by mikevotes at
12:47 PM
6 Comments:
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Pat, at 1:23 PM
I'm sorry Pat, I zapped your comment
"Hello, how are you? Nice blog you have! Keep it up!
Take a look at my site:"
Too much blogwhoring for me.
Mike
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mikevotes, at 1:29 PM
Has the London airliner attacks been linked to alQaeda? First Chertoff said they were, then he said they weren't, it's so hard to tell the players with out a scorecard.
Nice blog you have here!
By
Lew Scannon, at 2:03 PM
Cut it out, Lew.
Not officially, not directly, but I was watching some of the more sane int'l affairs folks on CNN yesterday, Peter Bergen, Amanpour, and Suskind, and they seemed to paint a picture of that.
I think it's actually a little of both. The "actors" were indubitibly British, but there also do appear to be strong communications (and some money?) connecting to Pakistan.
Whether this is official, signed off by Bin Laden, I don't know, but it does seem to tie into the Pakistani Sunni groups. Certainly, it could be not directly connected to "Al Qaeda", but it seems to be involving some people around the Pakistani core of the movement.
It gets blurry to me once these connections reach Pakistan what with Generals and ISI folks giving support to the Taleban, Al Qaeda, the anti-Indian groups.
I'm not sure. But I also don't think Bin Laden is the only major figure/planner in those groups. In parallel, much like Nasrallah isn't the only influencer within the Hezbullah.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 2:30 PM
Isn't the ISI a CIA asset? Which would tie the whole thing back to...
Blog here nice you have!
By
Lew Scannon, at 2:53 PM
Stop it. You're making me laugh.
It was. It was one of the channels way back when. As to how they're tied together still? And, yeah, I don't rule out the circle.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 3:33 PM
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