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Syria's Al-Nusra Front Threatens the West
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
September 29, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Syria’s al-Qaeda terrorist group AKA the “al-Nusra
Front,” threatened to attack Western targets for recent air strikes authorized
by President Barack Obama Aug. 8.
In a new propaganda video disseminated to Islamist Websites, Al-Nusra’s Syrian
leader Abu Mohammeed al-Golan threatened to take the battle to civilians
overseas. Calling Obama’s bombing
campaign a “crusader alliance,” al-Golani doesn’t know whom to attack, since his
radical Sunni group has been battling Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria [ISIS]. Al-Baghdadi
hasn’t discriminated against Sunnis or Shiites with his blitzkrieg that’s
massacred Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Kurds, all getting in the way of his
new caliphate. Al-Golani ratcheted
up Osama bin Laden’s old rhetoric about a “crusader alliance,” not admitting
that Obama’s coalition against ISIS involves Sunni Muslims.
Since Bin Laden’s death May 1, 2011, 63-year-old gray-bearded Ayman
al-Zawahri hasn’t been able to command al-Qaeda, losing its relevance as the
world’s most deadly terror organization.
Whether al-Zawahri likes it or not, al-Baghdad’s blitzkrieg in Iraq and
Syria has left al-Qaeda irrelevant.
Since the bombing began Sept. 8, U.S. and coalition forces, including, Qatar,
Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, have hit ISIS, al-Nusra
and the little known Khorosan group, all radical Sunni groups seeking to topple
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Obama’s coalition has been criticized for attacking the same groups trying to
oust al-Assad, in effect keeping the dictator in power. None of the coalition wants to admit
that the current air campaign against ISIS, al-Nusra and Khorosan give al-Assad
some breathing room while his army battles insurgents.
Al-Nusra found out the hard way what happens when you compete with
al-Baghdadi’s supremacy as the self-anointed caliphate of the Islamic World. Al-Baghdadi has made it clear to all
Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and Kurds that he’s Islam’s supreme leader. Threatening to attack the Western
“crusaders,” al-Golani hopes to divert attention away from his war with ISIS,
hoping ISIS can heed his call to arms.
Al-Baghdadi has no interest in joining forces with a competitor whose
former relevance has waned since Bin Laden’s death. Al-Qaeda’s aging al-Zawahri can’t admit that the 44-year-old al-Baghdadi commands a much
bigger following. “We will use all
that we have to defend the people of Syria . . . from the Crusader alliance,”
said al-Golani, trying to get ISIS to fall in line. ISIS has no interest in joining
forces with al-Qaeda, regardless of the current U.S. air campaign.
Al-Golani’s blowing smoke when he threatens global targets in Europe and
the U.S. “And we will use all
possible means to achieve this end,” referring to retaliating against the U.S.
or its allies. If al-Nusra could
hit the U.S. or EU it wouldn’t hesitate.
Western terrorism officials are more concerned about the hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of foreign ISIS fighters from the U.S. and Britain that might
launch attacks in their host countries.
“This is what will cause the battle to be transported to the hearts of
your own homes, because Muslims will not stand idly by and watch Muslims killed
in their countries . . . “ said al-Nusra’s al-Golani, refusing to admit his
radical group has been at war with ISIS.
“The price of war will not be paid by your leaders alone. You will pay the biggest price,” hoping to scare private citizens in the U.S. and Europe
into opposing U.S. and coalition air strikes.
Al-Baghdadi and al-Golani have been at war with each other for months. Blaming the air raids on invading
“crusaders,” al-Nusra hopes to galvanize the Muslim war against the West. No ONE played the propaganda game
better that Bin Laden before his May 1, 2011 death by Navy Seals. While al-Baghdadi carved himself out
30% of battle-fatigued areas of Iraq and Syria, al-Golani wants to topple
al-Assad and set up a Taliban-like state in Syria. Whether liked or not, al-Assad
battles remnants of the Arab spring that toppled a number of authoritarian Arab
regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and Syria.
While the West likes to talk about democratizing he Middle East, history
shows that the region isn’t ready for democracy just yet. Toppling al-Assad would create the
same power vacuum that happened in Iraq, opening up the floodgates of Islamic
extremism.
Whether or not the U.S. battle against Islamic extremist groups in Syria
keeps al-Assad in power, the U.S. and EU must learn from mistakes in Iraq. Toppling al-Assad does nothing to
stop rising tide of Islamic extremism that offer guns-and-butter to the hoards
of disenfranchised folks in the Middle East and beyond. Wherever there’s human misery, terrorist groups capitalize on the plentiful supply of
misanthropes seeking promises of paradise.
Al-Baghdadi and al-Golani have much in common, selling beaten down souls
their twisted version of Islam. No
broken down Muslim under radical Islam’s yolk sees the West’s religious freedom
allowing Muslims to prosper like any other religious or ethnic group. Bin Laden spewed the same old
propaganda about the “crusader alliance” used to manipulate poor people into
believing the West’s fictional war against Islam.
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