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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Cheney does not see close ties between Iran, al-Qaeda |
| 2006-01-21 |
| Save this one, the Looney Left is going to keep bringing it up again later ... US Vice President Dick Cheney has said he does not believe there are close relations between Iran and Al-Qaeda, seeming to distance himself from some earlier US administration charges. "I think you've got to remember that the Al-Qaeda organization is primarily made up of radical Sunni Islamists, of course, and the Iranian regime is Shia-dominated -- Shia. So there's not a natural fit there," Cheney said in a telephone interview with the Hugh Hewitt Show, released by the White House. "That doesn't mean that there haven't been relationships over the years, but I don't believe it's close. I haven't seen any evidence of that," Cheney added on the heels of new broadcast threats by Osama bin Laden. The George W. Bush administration on several occasions has accused Iran of supporting terrorism and Al-Qaeda. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 re: Cheney, 'Deferrer' he most certainly is not. The threat from Iran comes via their support of Hamas and Hizboallah, ratcheted up x10 by the open threats to Israel from the new guy/old radical. Cheney is absolutely right to distinguish that from al Qaeda - for one thing, it implicitly points out that alQ aren't the only nuts claiming to have Allah's mandate to conquer the world. At some point, if we are lucky, the internal contradictions and power struggles in the Middle East will cause both the MMs and the Salafists/Wahabis to implode - quite likely, by slitting each others' throats. But only if we get out of their way and don't stop that by treating them as one monolithic enemy. And if by 'deferrer' you mean Bush, all I can say is that it's easy to talk a tough game when the lives of millions of people aren't at stake in what you say and do. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-01-21 15:43 |
| #3 "That doesn't mean that there haven't been relationships over the years..." The al-Khobar Towers bombing comes to mind. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2006-01-21 12:50 |
| #2 The "grand deferrer" forgot one of the basic tennants of Islam: "An infidel enemy of your enemy is also your enemy." |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-01-21 11:03 |
| #1 "they're just welcome guests and useful tools, but we haven't actually swapped spit with AQ, I mean, have you seen their oral hygiene?" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-01-21 01:52 |