Al Qaeda in Iraq has ambitions beyond its means

AP:

The purported leader of al-Qaida's affiliate in Iraq called in a new posting on a militant Web site on Thursday for attacks on Israel and proposed that Iraq's territory be a "launching pad" to seize Jerusalem.

In the 30-minute audiotape, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said to head the Islamic State of Iraq, lashed out at Arab and Palestinian groups — especially the Palestinian Hamas — for failing to liberate the Palestinians.

He also called on Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, to break away from the group's political leadership and liberate Jerusalem, or Al-Quds as the city is called in Arabic.

The new posting came as Israeli security instructed embassies and Jewish institutions around the world to go on alert for fear of revenge attacks for a car bomb that killed a top-wanted terrorist, Imad Mughniyeh, late Tuesday in the Syrian capital.

Hezbollah has accused Israel of killing the militant, whose funeral was being held Thursday, but Israel has denied that. The one-time Hezbollah security chief was the suspected mastermind of attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon.

The posting also came in the wake of concerns expressed this week by the director of U.S. national intelligence that al-Qaida in Iraq is shifting its focus to attacks elsewhere in the region. Mike McConnell told a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday that the terror network "may deploy resources to mount attacks outside" Iraq.

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Al Qaeda uses very cowardly tactics. It rarely attacks defended positions or people who can shoot back. It is running into more people like that in Iraq and it is having more difficulty finding non combatants that are easily attacked. It would have the same difficulty in Israel, but it is not above urging futile gestures on others. Iraq is not a good base for attacks at this point, although it could be if Democrats get their way and withdraw US troops before the Iraqis are ready to contain the enemy.