Edwin Mora:
As a result of the Arab Spring revolutions, al-Qaeda is gaining ground despite the U.S. killing its leader, Osama bin Laden, in May 2011, Reuters reports.
In particular, the Jan. 16 article points out that the Arab Spring has helped al-Qaeda “offshoots and successors” gain ground.
The report highlights al-Qaeda-affiliated group The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) taking back the Iraqi city of Fallujah, where they had previously been defeated by U.S. forces.
“There are probably more people fighting now under the al Qaeda banner than ever before,” Richard Barrett, former head of the United Nations al-Qaeda and Taliban monitoring team who is now at the Soufan Group consultancy, told Reuters. “But that doesn’t mean they are necessarily fighting for the same thing or even on the same side.”
According to experts cited by Reuters, the new al-Qaeda is not the same terrorist group that carried out the 9/11 attacks against the U.S. Some affiliates, such as Somalia’s al-Shabaab or al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, are not concerned with enemies in the West.
I recall Code Pink going into the ME and offering to teach Islamists how to better demonstrate against their governments.
Not so much anymore.
I wonder if they realize how much they helped the Arab Spring happen?
I wonder if they are happy with the resultant anti-gay, anti-women agenda of those who won the Arab Spring uprisings?
Do they imagine those Sharia-loving, infidel-hating winners would look kindly enough on them so as not to kill them?
One of the real problems of the fighters is collateral killings of fellow Muslims.
They try to get around that by calling them ”martyrs.”
There has been some push-back against that by other Muslims who see themselves as in the same linguistic boat of the ”martyrs.”
And why not?