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June 14, 2008

Exclusive: CRC Open Sources

CRC Open Sources

For the past several months, I have written quite a bit about the odd alliances and the seemingly unlikely coordination of effort between Sunni and Shiia in the broader Islamic jihad against the West.

Those who don't fully understand the depth and scope of what the Jihadists are doing worldwide, will argue that Sunni and Shiia don't work and play well together. That may be true in a world where only Sunni and Shiia kingdoms exist. But as long as radical Islam has greater enemies to contend with - like Israel, the U.S., and the greater West - these two unlikely Muslim sects (and their various subsets) will coordinate efforts and generally support one another.

In a book published last month by the National Intelligence University and the U.S. Army War College, Dr. Ely Karmon - a senior research scholar at Israel's International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism - writes:

"Little is known about the Iran-Hizballah-al-Qaeda connections, but there is no doubt that several dozens or possibly hundreds of Sunni jihadi operatives are in Iran, and Ayman al-Zawahiri has hinted in the past of a possible cooperation with Tehran. In his famous letter sent to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in July 2005, Zawahiri noted that ‘more than one hundred prisoners-many of whom are from the leadership who are wanted in their countries-[are] in the custody of the Iranians.' The attacks against the Shiites in Iraq could compel ‘the Iranians to take counter measures,' and therefore, al-Qaeda ‘and the Iranians need to refrain from harming each other at this time in which the Americans are targeting' them. The Iranians could use al-Qaeda for their own needs in the Middle East or beyond, and some al-Qaeda operatives could be impressed by a nuclear Iran and agree to cooperate."

The letter Dr. Karmon is referring to is one sent from al-Zawahiri to al-Zarqawi, which was seized during counterterrorism operations in Iraq. The letter was released July 9, 2005 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Karmon's book (actually a monograph) is entitled, "Iran-Syria-Hizballah-Hamas - A Coalition Against Nature, Why Does It Work?"

For further reading, I recommend this week's piece, Al Qaeda: Weakened, Not Defeated.

Also:

U.S. Navy Strikes Inside Somalia

Jihadism's Dangerous Liasons

Turning a terrorist into a cult hero

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