Syria crisis: Most Houla victims 'were executed'

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32. Because al-Zawahiri isn't head of al-Qaeda.

Last edited Tue May 29, 2012, 05:03 PM - Edit history (3)

al-Zawahiri heads a Taliban remnant that acted as the local hosts to UBL when Saudi intellligence relocated him to Afghanistan from Khartoum, Sudan in 1996. That contingent has been decimated; as Secretary Panetta has stated, there are probably no more than several dozen genuine al-Qaeda members left in Afghanistan, and he is probably right. There are other loosely formed organizations in Afghanistan and the neighboring tribal regions of Pakistan that call themselves al-Qaeda. They can call themselves whatever they want.

Al-Qaeda is a nexus of the covert special operations branches of Saudi external General Intelligence Division (GID) and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Most of its trained operatives were veterans who fought covertly alongside western intelligence in the joint campaigns against the Russians and Serbs in Kosovo, Chechnya and Bosnia. I have already explained to you its genesis as part of a 1976 deal between DCI Bush and GID Co-Director Prince Turki al Faisal. Al-Qaeda is not the creation of UBL, and bin Laden was just one among a number of ranking Saudi paramilitary leaders. Al-Qaeda, along with bin Laden, was caught up in the infighting within Saudi Arabia among various factions of the Royal Family. He fell out of favor with the Court, but continued to have his backers. That intra-Saudi power struggle, and the Americans who tried to manipulate it, had a great deal to do with the lead-up to the 9/11 attack. If you want to learn more about UBL and his long relationship with Saudi and American intelligence, please see, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/04/810764/-Erik-Prince-American-Bin-Laden-CIA-Asset-Money-Gunmen

After 9/11, some of al-Qaeda's leadership was purged, particularly those with primarily loyalty to the rival "Sudairi Seven" wing of the House of Saud (several leading members of whom died suddenly after 9/11). But, that part that swore allegiance to Abdullah remains as do some Pakistani general officers who continue to support al-Qaeda. The global Saudi-Pakistani paramilitary is still very much intact and operating globally, with a large contingent now operating inside Syria.

You should not speak of either al-Qaeda or the House of Saud as a singular entity. If you think in those terms, events will just confuse you further. Even though the succession struggle appears to have been largely resolved in Abdullah's favor after King Faud died of his massive incapacitating stroke several years ago, there is very little that unifies the House of Saud other than Salaafist beliefs in Holy War and the takeover of all Arab lands under their own dominion, which to some necessarily entails the extermination of the Shi'ia. Damascus was for centuries seen as the capital of Arab peoples. What's going on in Syria is very much an ancient blood feud and religious war. The outcome, if the Ba'ath regime and Syrian Army collapse, is likely to be a genocide of the Alawite (Shi'ia) minority by the Sunni spearheaded by Saudi paramilitary.