The ideology that drove the suicide missions in Riyadh and Casablanca needs to be dealt with socially rather than by security means, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad said in an interview published on Sunday.
| "Yeah. Gotta get to those root causes..." |
Assad also told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Anba that he doubted terror chief Osama bin Laden or his Al Qaeda network were capable of organising attacks on such a large scale. âWe blame everything on Al Qaeda but what happened is more dangerous than bin Laden or Al Qaeda. Weâre talking about a certain ideological bloc. The issue is ideology, itâs not an issue of organisations,â Assad said. âSuch an ideology cannot live without a certain social base. It has to convince people and strengthen its presence. Dealing with this issue should be through a social approach not through security,â which is only a âtemporary remedy.â
| I actually agree with that statement, assuming dealing with it as a social problem involves cleaning out the mosques with a strong disinfectant and dealing with the spittle-spraying mullahs using rope... |
Assad said the âincidentsâ, where suicide bombers targeted compounds housing foreigners in Saudi Arabia on May 12 and the near simultaneous bombings in the heart of Moroccoâs business hub on May 16, were interlinked with one ideological methodology. âI cannot believe that bin Laden is the person able to outmanoeuvre the entire world. He cannot talk on telephones or use the internet. Itâs therefore impossible for him to be able to direct communications throughout the world. It would be illogical to claim as much. How can he plan in this manner and how can he move now?â he said.
| Couriers, I'd say. And "flappers," people who can use the telly or the internet because they're not overtly associated with him... |
âIs there really an entity called Al Qaeda? It was in Afghanistan, but is it there anymore?â Assad continued.
| I think it still exists, but it's vastly changed from the entity we whacked a year and a half ago... |
âWhen there are two attacks, one in the east of the Arab world and the other in the west, this means there is one school of thought and groups that live in different countries.â Assad believes the bombings in Riyadh and Casablanca could be part of âone plotâ but said he could not link the Riyadh blasts to the US-led war in Iraq, to which he reiterated his countryâs opposition.
| That's because it's not linked to the war in Iraq. It's linked to Qaeda's war on us. Binny's mob is made up of smaller organizations, some terrorist, such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and some overtly political, such as Pakistan's Jamaat e-Ulema Pakistan, plus some newer groups like al-Tawhid that are formed in its image, and allied groups like Takfir wal-Hijra, which is as much school of thought and an approach to jihad as it is a group. (Takfir gunnies tried to assassinate Binny when he lived in Sudan because he wasn't Islamic enough for them. Go figure.) Take away the Qaeda coordination layer and you're still left with organizations that are capable of operating on their own, with the exception of those groups who depend on Qaeda for their financing. I'd guess that what Qaeda's doing is setting up financial analogs to the flappers. |
He also said the post-war situation in Iraq has not yet âcrystallisedâ but that the current political vacuum âis natural after the suppression suffered by the Iraqi people throughout the years of the (Saddam Hussein) regime.â
| Yeah. I'm not surprised, either... |
Syria is ready to send a peacekeeping force to Iraq, âif the Iraqis request it,â the president added.
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