AL QAEDA AND SADDAM

James Joyner · Thursday, September 18, 2003 · No Comments

Donald Sensing has an interesting and link-filled post on the synergy between al Qaeda and Saddam’s regime in Iraq. The upshot:

It’s true that Osama bin Laden has no love for Saddam personally nor for Baathism generally. But bin Laden’s goal in Iraq is not to save Saddam, it is to kill Americans so that they will leave. If al Qaeda can fight the Americans there while gaining an ever-stronger presence in Iraq, they believe they will be in a position to establish a pure Islamic state in Iraq when the Americans leave. Whether Saddam is presently alive or dead does not matter to al Qaeda. They are not fighting for him to retake the reins of government there, but so that they can do so.

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About James Joyner
James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. Follow James on Twitter.