Italian defence minister links 9/11 to deadly attack on Iraq base

[jimnyc]

**How big of an impact do you think Al Qaeda has on the attacks? Are they masterminds behind the scenes or just another part of the resistance?**

NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AFP) - Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino said the "same hand" behind the 9/11 anti-US terror attacks had struck Italy's base in Nasiriyah, killing 18 Italians and nine Iraqis, as another US soldier died in violence-hit Iraq.

The attack on the Italian base -- the deadliest anti-coalition strike since the April 9 fall of Baghdad -- deterred Japan from sending troops to Iraq, dealing a new blow to US plans to bolster peacekeeping forces.

While the Central Intelligence Agency warned that resistance to coalition forces in Iraq could strengthen, US overseer Paul Bremer headed back to Baghdad with proposals to speed up the transition process toward self-rule in Iraq.

"For me it is the same hand as for September 11," blamed on the al-Qaeda terror network, Martino told reporters upon his arrival under tight security at the Italian police base demolished by Wednesday's suicide truck bombing.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...p/20031113/ts_afp/iraq_worldwrap_031113123934

 

[dijetlo]

Originally posted by jimnyc
**How big of an impact do you think Al Qaeda has on the attacks? Are they masterminds behind the scenes or just another part of the resistance?**

Al-Qaeda recruits, trains, dispurses and supports cells of terrorists. If his past actions are a guide, this is not really OBLs' style, the daily grind of engagement. I think your looking at a mixture of the regime survivors and a growing number of Mujahdeen mercenaries who are basicaly in search of cash and prizes (with the blessings of Allah). Al-Qaeda is there, no doubt, recruiting/funding suicide bombers and is likely connected to the "resistance" at this point, but their core ideology is not going to get much play in Iraq.
In the south, I think you'll find Jund al-Shams/Ansar Al-Islam. They are the right ethnic background (iranian/jordanian/palestinian) to win support among the fringe mullahs. They also lack the taint of wahabism that the Shia clerics would probably find distasteful from the Al-Qeada. We know somebody is agitating amongst the Shia, there have been a couple assasinations in recent months, the roadside bombings of the Brits and now the Italians. The labeling of every foriegn mujahdeen who is arrested in Iraq as an "Al-Qaeda" soldier is for consumption in the US, I think.

 

[Bry]

what is "wahabism"?

 

[dijetlo]

Originally posted by Bry
what is "wahabism"?

Bad spelling run amock. I think that idiot meant wahhabism.

 

[Bry]

jeje. No, I didn't know even spelled correctly. (I wasn't correcting spelling.)

At least now I might be able to do a successful search on the subject.