Pages

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Lava Flow

Earlier I wrote that preventing jihadis from entering Iraq was a problem but that sealing the border was not the answer. We aren't trying to stop organized military units from entering. Or trucks with weapons and ammo. We need to halt individuals from entering Iraq. Individuals in civilian garb and unarmed. Stopping such people is just too tough to do. If units or weapons were the problem then beefing up border defenses would be the answer.

So the new Iraqi government is laying down a threat to Syria to stop letting jihadis travel freely through Syria to kill Iraqis:

Iraq's defense minister criticized Syria on Tuesday for ignoring Iraqi demands "to stop the infiltration of terrorists."

The official, Saadoun al-Dulaimi, singled out Iraq's western neighbor as among states that are slack on stopping the flow of militants into his country.

"When the lava of the exploding volcano of Iraq overflows, it will first hit Damascus," al-Dulaimi warned during a news conference to discuss an upcoming nationwide security plan.

He said militants are coming into Iraq from Syria via three routes, with the intent of targeting the Baghdad area.

The first one is in the far north, passing through Tal Afar, south into Baiji and Kirkuk and then into Baghdad.

The second route is along the Euphrates River, from the border town of Qaim into Falluja, west of the capital.

From there, fighters proceed to other places -- such as Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad and the "Triangle of Death" towns south of the capital -- Yusifiya, Latifiya and Mahmoudiya.

The third course is near Iraq's border with Syria and Jordan. Al-Dulaimi said most car bombers use this route, a desert stretch easy to penetrate.


Iraq is growing in strength and in time, will have the ability to strike at Syria behind a shield of American military power (much like the Iraqis struck Iranian oil tankers behind the shield of the American-led convoys in the Persian Gulf in 1987-1988 during the Iran-Iraq War). In less than a decade, if young Assad is still in charge, Iraq will have a US-trained military able to thrash the Syrian army on its own.

Damascus best watch the volcano to their east. They've been warned they are in the lava path.