Special Report: The Coming Summer Storm
Vol: 68 Issue: 23 Wednesday, May 23, 2007
All the signs seem to be pointing to an all-out effort by al-Qaeda and its allies (which pretty much now includes Iran and every Islamic terror group on the planet) for a mid-summer maximum offensive against Israel and the West.
Less than a year ago, the CIA had believed that al-Qaeda’s funding was all but done, and that al-Qaeda’s organization was all but in total disarray. But al-Qaeda has a new source of funding right under America’s nose in Iraq.
According to the CIA, al-Qaeda’s command base in Pakistan is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq, where the terrorist network’s operatives are raising substantial sums from donations to the anti-American insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity.
The influx of money has bolstered al-Qaeda’s leadership ranks at a time when the core command is regrouping and reasserting influence over its network.
The trend also signals a reversal in the traditional flow of al-Qaeda funds, with the network’s leadership surviving to a large extent on money coming in from its most profitable franchise, rather than distributing funds from headquarters to distant cells.
According to intelligence sources, Qaeda’s efforts were aided by Pakistan’s withdrawal in September of tens of thousands of troops from the tribal areas along the Afghanistan border where Bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, are believed to be hiding.
Little more than a year ago, al-Qaeda’s core command was thought to be in a financial crunch, but cash shipped from Iraq has eased those troubles.
“Iraq is a big moneymaker for them,” according to one senior U.S. counter-terrorism official.
The evolving picture of al-Qaeda’s finances is based in part on intelligence from an aggressive effort launched last year to intensify the pressure on bin Laden and his senior deputies.
The CIA deployed as many as 50 clandestine operatives to Pakistan and Afghanistan – a dramatic increase over the number of CIA case officers permanently stationed in those countries.
All of the new arrivals were given the primary objective of finding what counter-terrorism officials call “HVT1” and “HVT2.” Those “high value target” designations refer to Bin Laden and Zawahiri.
The surge was part of a broader shake-up at the CIA designed to refocus on the hunt for Bin Laden. The CIA had formed a task force from all four directorates at the agency, including analysts, scientists and technical experts, as well as covert operators.
But despite the surge, the US has yet to produce a single lead on either bin-Laden or Zawahiri’s location.
Assessment:
It seems that al-Qaeda has been energized by the antiwar movement in the US Congress, which, despite protestations to the contrary, has them convinced that they can win.
Zawahiri just released a 67-minute video on the internet in which he claimed the Democrat’s bill calling for a troop withdrawal was proof that the US has already lost the war in Iraq.
In addition, there was Israel’s less-than-stellar performance in last summer’s war with Hezbollah, which has both Syria and Iran believing they can win there.
A report in the Pakistani press says that Iran has all but formed an open alliance with al-Qaeda, despite arguments from the Left that “there is no way that Sunni al-Qaeda would get into bed with Shi’ite Iran.”
It has long been a principle of warfare that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” It isn’t just an Islamic principle. It is a universal principle.
In 1940, Stalin and Hitler were allies. In 1941, Hitler invaded the USSR. In a flash, America’s new best friend was “Uncle Joe” Stalin. Five minutes after Hitler went down in flames, Stalin resumed his former job as America’s worst enemy.
US commanders in Iraq are predicting a nation-wide, Iranian-orchestrated summer offensive in Iraq in which Sunni insurgents and al-Qaeda will link up with Tehran’s Shia militia allies. Iran hopes to trigger a political mutiny in Iraq, with a corresponding political mutiny in Washington.
One top US commander reported: “There is significant latent capability in Iraq, especially Iranian-sponsored capability. They can turn it up whenever they want. You can see that from the pre-positioning that s been going on and the huge stockpiles of Iranian weapons that we ve turned up in the last couple of months. The relationships between Iran and groups like Al Qaeda are very fluid.”
The CIA claims it has proof that Iran has reversed its previous policy in Afghanistan and is now supporting and supplying the Taliban s campaign there. Iran is also expanding contacts across the board with paramilitary forces and political groups, including Kurdish parties such as the PUK, a US ally.
Tehran continues to provide support for violence, weapons smuggling and training inside Iraq, hoping to build on the Left’s call for retreat under any circumstances.
If all the intel reports are correct, what does it all mean? First off, it means even higher gas prices. Remember, the main target is the US economy.
As gas prices go up, so does everything that gets delivered by truck — which means, essentially everything. Iran is continuing to use its Oil Bourse plan to weaken the dollar by demanding payment in euros.
The stock market may be posting record highs, but the US dollar is posting record lows abroad.
The Venezuela-Tehran-Damascus air corridor is ferrying Islamic terrorists into Central America, where they are creating an underground army of Hispanic terrorist cells to infiltrate across our southern borders.
This air corridor is also being used to bring biological and chemical WMD from the Middle East into the Western hemisphere for use in mass attacks against the US homeland.
Hezbollah continues to prepare its forces for war with Israel. The conflict between the Lebanese government and the Palestinians it has interned in ‘refugee’ camps is flooding Hezbollah and al-Qaeda with new recruits.
And everything seems to be pointing towards a major Islamic offensive sometime this summer.
We’ve been drawing the historical parallels between the developing global alliances of the past year and those of 1938 for more than a year. On September 2nd, 1939, Hitler’s invasion of Poland kicked off World War II. And if last year was 1938, then this year is 1939.
Things are heating up exponentially. Pray that the Lord will preserve and protect our nation and Western civilization. While you are at it, pray that the idiots on the Left will realize that the enemy isn’t the US administration.
If the Lord grants our prayers, then this assessment will turn out to be wrong, and nothing would please me more than to be 100% wrong today.
But keep your powder dry. The intelligence forecasts suggest that it’s going to be a long, hot summer.
I wish that I had better news.
Omegaletter 