Greater Cooperation Between Uncle Sam and Al Qaeda Signaled

Yesterday in the Sunday Review section of the New York Times Ben Hubbard had a piece, "The Franchising of Al Qaeda," about the supposedly changing nature of the group led by Ayman al-Zawahri. Al Qaeda, according to Hubbard, is splintering, becoming more defuse, less centralized.

This is nothing new. We've been hearing this for the last decade. What is new here is the necessity to create distinctions among various Al Qaeda groups so that the United States can work with those that it wishes to in contravention of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists passed after 9/11.

This move is underway largely because of the war in Syria. The United States is already cooperating with Al Qaeda there in coordination with the Saudis and the Turks. ISIS and Nusra are the main fighting forces trying to defeat the Syrian Arab Army. Going forward, this is going to be the new normal as the Saudis and Israelis insist on war with Iran. The foot soldiers will come from the salafi groups affiliated with Al Qaeda.

The United States needs to get its voters used to cooperating with Al Qaeda. Hence, you get the line like the following one:

Beyond its open affiliation with Al Qaeda, little separates the Nusra Front from other Islamist battalions fighting in Syria. One of them, Ahrar al-Sham, even has a Qaeda member in its leadership. While these groups’ Islamic vision for the future of Syria may disturb many Americans (and Syrians), they have not attacked Western targets. “There are a lot of militant groups out there that are supporting either Islamist, salafist or jihadi doctrine, but they are not all wrapped up about the U.S., so do you call them all Al Qaeda?” said Clint Watts, a former F.B.I. agent now with the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

It is going to be a tough sell because there has been an enormous amount of  indoctrination going back to the 1990s telling us that Al Qaeda is our existential enemy. But this won't stop the elites who construct policy from moving full steam ahead.