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Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Retreat from Baghdad

Bin Laden has made it official, he's cutting his losses in Iraq and calling a retreat:

In his second audio message in three days focusing on the Palestinians, the al-Qaida leader said the only way to liberate Palestine is to fight the Arab regimes that are protecting Israel. And he called on Muslim militants in Egypt to help break the blockade of Gaza.


Back when driving America from Iraq was their prime mission, you didn't hear much from al Qaeda about the need to liberate Palestine. It was all about Iraq as the first step in the path to victory.

With jihadi morale suffering with losses in Afghanistan and Iraq, bin Laden is trying to rebuild morale by focusing on the traditional enemy, the Jews.

I don't imagine the remaining jihadis inside Iraq can be too happy to know that bin Laden doesn't really think they are accomplishing much in Iraq.