[ziggytrix]

Originally Posted by KevinTheOmnivore

Really? Well what is their cause, Ziggy??? Is it nationalism??? I honestly wish that were the case. Is it "Pan-arabism"??? What is motivating other muslims from Yemen, Syria, and Algeria to leave their homes and go to Iraq???

Heh, I already answered this question, and in the text you quoted! I would argue that their leaderships are equal parts power mad and religiously rabid. See, you bolded the wrong line from my post. You should have bolded "If you're wondering what else there is to blame, try power. Plain and simple. Religion may be a tool, but power is the goal.". Please note I wasn't trying to say that was their ONLY motivation, but simply a part fo the picture.

Excluding the desperate scum who think they see a gravy train to get in on, the foreign fighters are quite clearly there in the name of radical Islam, no doubt about that, but you seem to be unaware or unbelieving of their estimate of being roughly 4 to 10% of the insurgency. Of the local insurgents there are a number of motives from political to personal to religious. As convenient as it is to label the entire situation a religious conflict, it isn't the whole picture. The enemy is only human, after all.

Why is it that the insurgents target mosques??? Why, again, is it that these insurgents kill in the name of Allah instead of iraq, or Arabism, or whatever..?

You tell me. I'm all for asking why, but I don't know all the answers. You apparently do though, so please share. Is the answer you're looking for "because they are Islamists"?

Really? And who would you kill in these blackops, Ziggy? Would uou just go after people who say they are a part of "Al Qaeda," and call it a day???

Well, my framework would not have entailed troops fighting a groundwar against people who've booby-trapped the ground. It would primarily involve extremely well-funded infiltration of terrorist networks within one's own nation and within ally nations. It would also involve clandestine assassination of those who preach for killing (deliciously ironic, I think) in the name of extremist ideoloogies. For all I know, nationbuilding in Iraq may be a good way to suppress radical Islam. I don't think it is, but I'm not in charge, and so I don't especially care. But it's all speculative at this point because we're already in Iraq.

Al Qaeda is a product of the problem. Focusing on "black ops" that would "dismantle terrorist organizations" would be good, but would it end jihadism*, Ziggy?

What would, then?




note to Blanco: i was talking about an alternative to invading Iraq as a method for staging the Global War on Terror, not as a solution to the current Iraq mess, but thanks for caring enough to check the context!