Al-Qaeda spells out Iraq attack strategy in handbook: report

[hightime]

PARIS (AFP) - Al-Qaeda reportedly planned to target Spain as the weakest link of the coalition in Iraq to force its troop pullout, according to a document from the terror network.

"We consider that the Spanish government cannot suffer more than two to three strikes before pulling out (of Iraq) under pressure from its own people," said the document obtained Wednesday by AFP from Raido France Internationale's regional office in Beirut.

"If these (Spanish) forces remain after the strikes, the victory of the socialist party would be near-guaranteed and the pullout of Spanish forces from Iraq would be on its agenda," said the document, distributed ahead of the March 11 attacks in Madrid.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, elected after the train bombings in Madrid which left 191 people dead in Spain's worst ever terrorist attack, withdrew Spanish troops from the troubled country in May.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040630/323/ex1bt.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. And their 9-11 strategy

got the US to pull out of Saudi Arabia.

Osama must be a genius?

[thebigidea]

2. this must be another document with Chalabi's fingerprints on it

Funny how Al-Q seems to think exactly like Republicans.

Hmmm. Funny, that.

[htuttle]

4. "My Planz for Wurld Domnation by Ossama ben Laden"

I bet it was tied up in ribbon with a nice, pretty bow on it, too.

[daleo]

3. Would they really call themselves "hard-line".

"This would be (for the US) the first step toward the eradication of hardline Islam in the entire world," it said."

It seems like it is either badly translated or a planted document.

[troublemaker]

5. The story is new but the data is ancient. 3-4 weeks?

[struggle4progress]

6. I throw up my hands.

Surprisingly little info about such a long and important doc?
Peculiar how few outlets picked up this story?

I would love to congratulate D.Brooks and his ilk for grasping immediately that the Spanish bombing was an attempt to throw the Spanish election to the socialists -- except I don't believe that any of them are that smart. I can't see why a shadowy terrorist organisation would produce an elaborate briefing book.

If it really were a genuine Al-Qaeda text, could it have been brought into final form AFTER the Spanish elections, and then lost to create an impression of more profound analysis than was ever actually carried out?

[Cocoa]

7. is there anything about the U.S. election?

like, "We must bring about the defeat of the formidable, freedom-loving infidel George Bush, and arrange victory for the weak, America-hating John Kerry."

[mmonk]

8. sounds

like what the rightwing says.