Al-Qaeda finds its missing link in
Iran By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The US-led "war on terror" is
entering a critical phase, with the al-Qaeda
leadership being given a chance to revitalize its
cause now that Iran is in the US crosshairs over
its nuclear program.
"Tehran has taken
over the central stage by challenging American
hegemony," Hamid Gul told Asia Times Online.
"Tehran is today's inspiration force. It charms
the Arab youths on the streets. The Arab rulers
are terrified of this development, and this is the
reason they are coming to Pakistan one after
another."
Gul is a former corps commander
of the Pakistani army and ex-
director general of the
Inter-Services Intelligence. Persian-speaking Gul
is reckoned as one of the architects of the jihadi
movements that finally turned global and made
Afghanistan their base in the mid- and late 1990s
when the Taliban ruled.
Gul was referring
to visits to Pakistan by Saudi Crown Prince Sultan
bin Abdulaziz and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah
Salah. Islamabad is a US outpost in the "war on
terror" that the two prominent Arab leaders
visited, while at least one more is scheduled in
coming weeks.
Contacts close to the
echelons of power in Pakistan's military
headquarters, Rawalpindi, tell Asia Times Online
that judging from the pattern of talks, all of the
Muslim countries that side with the United States
anticipate a US attack on Iran around October.
And, according to these contacts, their
strategy is to consolidate opinion in the
Organization of Islamic Conferences to be
prepared. This does not mean stopping the attack,
but being ready for the fallout in the Middle East
and beyond.
"Iranian President Mahmud
Ahmadinejad's anti-American calls have become the
voice of today's Arab youths. They see in him a
hero, and it has shaken the foundations of
pro-American dictators and monarchs," Gul
explained.
"They [Arab rulers] are anxious
and restive. They are seeing their doomsday
started. Since Pakistan and Arab rulers operate
under the US umbrella, they are basically joining
their heads together to contain the Iranian
threat.
"The way Iran has spun its web in
the region, all strategic levers are coming into
Tehran's hands. The Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan led
by [Gulbuddin] Hekmatyar is part of the Islamic
movement and already close to Iran, but it is only
a matter of time when Taliban-related movements
will resolve all differences with Iran and join
hands with Tehran," Gul said.
Historically, Arabs have viewed Iran with
hostility, and there are some who are skeptical
whether Iran will continue in its current role as
anti-US champion should back-channel diplomacy,
especially involving Russia and China, lead to a
resolution of the crisis over its nuclear program.
Within two weeks, the International Atomic
Energy Agency will give a final report to the
United Nations Security Council, the results of
which could determine whether or not sanctions are
imposed on Iran.
Critics argue that should
the crisis be defused, Iran will back down from
its present rhetoric and leave all radicals in the
lurch. After all, they argue, Tehran has
indirectly facilitated US interests in the region,
be they in Afghanistan or Iraq.
"I don't
agree with this notion," Gul said dismissively.
"Iran raised funds for Hamas at a time when the
whole Muslim world was sympathetic with Hamas but
did not dare to openly support them. Iran [this
week] pledged [US]$50 million.
"At the
same time, it is untrue that Iran supported US
designs in the region. Instead, it cleverly played
its cards and now it is evident that it has
trapped the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq,"
said Gul.
Al-Qaeda's grand design Iran's becoming a rallying point for anti-US
sentiment in the Muslim world fits well with
al-Qaeda. Asia Times Online has already outlined a
pivotal debate in al-Qaeda on two major issues -
the question of a base and that of a unified
command structure (see Al-Qaeda goes back to
base, November 4, 2005).
Integral to the first issue was whether
al-Qaeda should get rid of its shadowy image and
fight in the open. This would involve the
establishment of an Islamic state (base) from
which calls for jihad could be issued and jihadi
forces prepared.
Al-Qaeda has achieved
this target in the Pakistani tribal area of North
Waziristan on the Afghan border by setting up a
virtual independent state, which is being expanded
into South Waziristan and many towns in
Afghanistan, in Kunar, Paktia, Khost, Helmand and
Zabul provinces (see Revolution in the Pakistani
mountains, March 23).
But
although the Afghan resistance is linked with the
Iraqi resistance and they have started open
battles against US-led forces in Afghanistan, the
question of a unified command that would control
resistance movements whether they be in Iraq,
Palestine or Afghanistan is still unanswered.
This is where Iran could now fit in, by
evolving from an inspirational anti-US model to
taking a lead role in orchestrating resistance
movements, in collaboration with al-Qaeda.
For radical Islamists, the situation is a
major turnaround for their cause of pan-Islamicism
and one that could even resolve 1,400 years of
historical, ideological and political differences
in the Muslim world.
"The Islamic
Revolution of Iran [1979] was in fact a victory of
all Islamic movements which were striving to
establish one Islamic role model in the world so
that it would be an inspirational force and would
convince the masses that the Islamic system of
life was still workable after 1,400 years," Muslim
intellectual Shahnawaz Farooqui explained to Asia
Times Online.
Shahnawaz is a young
Pakistan-based Muslim intellectual, a teacher,
writer and a poet. His main work is in the field
of the interpretation of Muslim history and Muslim
ideologies. His views are often aired in the
Iranian media.
"The Iranian revolution was
in fact a complete revolution under the leadership
of imam [Ruhollah] Khomeini. It was above any
sectarian bounds. After the revolution, Khomeini
announced that the base of Shi'ite-Sunni
differences was historical rather than
theological.
"Shi'ites believe that Ali
deserved to be the first Muslim caliph, and they
rejected all three before Ali and believe Ali is
the first caliph. Sunnis believe that the first
three caliphs, Bakr, Omar and Osman, are all [the]
righteous [ones] and that Ali was the fourth
caliph. Imam Khomeini addressed this issue and
called it historical differences which had no
connection with basic Islamic theology, and if
Shi'ites gave up their historical point of view on
the issue of the caliphate, it would make no
difference, but on the other hand it would wipe
out Shi'ite-Sunni differences once and for all,"
Shahnawaz maintained.
"Unfortunately, imam
Khomeini could not convince anybody - neither his
internal circles of clerics nor Al-Howza [the
supreme Shi'ite religious council in Iraq] as no
one among the Shi'ites was ready to give up their
historical position on the question of the
caliphate.
"However, the situation turned
bad after the demise of Khomeini and it was felt
that during the period of [ex-president Hashemi]
Rafsanjani and [former president Mohammed] Khatami
the Iranian revolution was somewhere lost.
"However, the victory of President
Ahmadinejad has once again revived the very spirit
of the Iranian revolution, and once again all
Islamic movements, whether it is the Muslim
Brotherhood, Jamaat-i-Islami, Hamas, Islamic Jihad
or any other, are joining hands with Tehran," said
Shahnawaz.
"To me, President Ahmadinejad
has redeemed the Iranian Islamic revolution with
all its ideological legacies," Shahnawaz added.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Bureau
Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be
reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
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