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Nicholas Blanford examines the question of whether al-Qaeda is involved in Syria’s uprising: “The Assad regime insists that the opposition protests that have rocked the country since March are being driven by ‘armed terrorist groups’ and ‘Islamic militants.’ It has blamed Al Qaeda for three suicide bomb attacks over the past month against security [...] Over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed a trend of people pointing to terrorist plots hatched in, for example, Europe as evidence that “safe havens” for terrorist groups do not matter. In his monograph Jihad in Saudi Arabia, Thomas Hegghammer comes to a different conclusion: “The arguably most important lesson from the history [...] Mariann Ormholt looks at al-Qaeda and the Arab Spring: “A study on al-Qaeda in the Arab Spring by Juan Zarate and David Gordon of Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, suggests a number of other reasons why al-Qaeda has been sidelined in the uprisings… “Nonetheless, al-Qaeda leaders have quickly sought to try [...] The death of Osama bin Laden has been a worthy objective for those like me that believe the United States should take all reasonable means to punish who attack it. The fact it took so long has been a propaganda coup for bin Laden and his fellow travelers in the salafi jihadist movement and [...] Muslims in Egypt from all shades of the theological spectrum are speaking out against al-Qaeda in Iraq’s anti-Christian declaration: “But instead of turning against Christians, calls to protect them echoed from throughout Egypt’s Islamic community. “‘This is something to be rejected and strongly denounced, and it serves none but those who want to spark [...] The fact an important Iraqi group acting under the al-Qaeda label has declared war on all Christians is disturbing: “An al Qa’eda group in Iraq has declared Christians ‘legitimate targets’ as a deadline expired for Egypt’s Coptic church to free women allegedly held after converting to Islam, SITE monitors said today. “The self-proclaimed Islamic [...] Normally al-Qaeda affiliates just make threats they can only carry out in their dreams, but in this case I’m not sure sure: “Al-Qaeda has never attempted to seize and hold strategic territory, but this may be about to change, according to an audiotape message from the deputy leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula [...] |
Blake Hounshell (aka praktike), our co-founder and main man, is managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine. He's now reporting on the Egyptian Revolution from Cairo. 
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