Merchant of Death
Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible

Blood from Stones

Visit Douglas Farah's
author page at
amazon.com

Reviews/
Press Releases

Is Iran Reaching Too Far in Iraq?
Two new publications show that Iran may have tried to reach too far in extending its influence through Iraq and into the rest of the Arab world. The result could be increasing clashes and all-out war between the Salafist project and the Shi'ia projects, with each side giving a higher priority to killing each other than attacking the West.

The first is a translation by PRISM of a new _jihadi_ document written by Kuwaiti Heikh Hamed bin Abdullah al-Ali, which has been widely circulated. Called the "Covenant of fht Supreme Council of Jihad Groups," it appears to have received enthusiastic support in the virtual _jihadi_ community.

One of the striking things about the document is the emphasis on the Iran-Shi'ia threat as the greatest to the _salafist_ and _jihadi_ movement, ahead, for the first time in a major document, of the "Jews and Crusaders." The document accuses the Shi'ia of searching "for the destruction of the Islamic civilization and slaughtering Muslims under false religious banners."

In his analysis of the situation in the Middle East, al-Ali again focuses by an assessment of the three primary groups in the Middle East: Iran and the Shi'ia, the Zionist-Crusader and the Islamic _Jihad._

He predicts the Shi'ia-Sunni conflicts will lead to "chaos in the region for sompe period, which will be in the favor of the Jihad project that will expand all over the Muslim world like fire in the woods...The important mission of the Jihad project today is to show long breathing n face of the enemy an dstick to our path under its banner until victory. And if not now, we shall deliver our achievements to the next generations until ultimate victory."

The Jamestown Foundation also put out a paper quoting an Iranian Republican Guard Council defector as saying "vast areas of Iraq are under the virtual control of the Qods Force through its Iraqi surrogoats. It uses a vast array of charities, companies and other fronts to conduct activities across Iraq...We would send our officers into Iraq to operate for months under the cover of a construction company."

The paper concludes that the the Shi'ia militias, having completely penetrated the new Iraqi security forces, are responsible for the worst atrocities there. "The militias enjoy Iranian military, finanancial and spiritual leadership," the paper says.

So, where does that leave us? The global _salafist/jihadi_ movement is refocusing its attention on the Shi'ia groups. The Shi'ia are pushing for the erradication of Sunni in Iraq and perhaps beyond. The Iraqi civil war seems likely to spread to the rest of the region in the near future.

POSTED BY DOUGLAS FARAH
A Serious Problem with The Surge
The Closing Window in Somalia
Maintained by Winter Tree Media, LLC