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Negroponte: Al Qaida envisions 'global caliphate' based in Iraq

Special to World Tribune.com
GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT.COM
Friday, February 10, 2006

Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte has made the first public U.S. assessment of Al Qaida’s long-term plans and objectives. They include creating a radical Islamist “caliphate” or government throughout the Middle East.

The estimate is based on an intercepted letter from Ayman al Zawahiri to Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi, discovered in July 2005.

In the letter, Zawahiri, the No. 2 Al Qaida leader, “portrays the jihad in Iraq as a stepping-stone in the march towards a global caliphate, with the focus on Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and Israel,” Negroponte said.

The Al Qaida strategy stresses the importance of having a secure base in Iraq from which to launch attacks elsewhere, including the United States.

It was the first time a senior U.S. intelligence official publicly discussed Al Qaida’s goals strategy.

Negroponte called terrorism the most serious national security threat to the country.


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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