Tim Blair

Don't squeeze them - kill them so they can collect their 72 virgins.

I'm just waiting for the left to adopt this as an issue.

I can see it now: America oppresses Al Khaida, how dare they! Just another example of American hegemony in the middle east. These muslims deserve their own space in the world to practice their own beliefs. Surely there can be negotiation, counsellors appointed and a 'home land' created.

Surely the protest professionals from People For A Just Australia are hanging out for a cause- surely a campaign for resettlement and refugee status for these marginalised people could keep the perpetually concerned busy for years.
And I know just the spot- Tasmania's got plenty of room, is full of left-leaning sympathy sponges, and surely Bob Brown could put up a few on his Senatorial salary. (Just remember Bob, hide the key to the cutlery drawer).

But Tim, the French 'Resistance' would put up a fight surely?

This is obviously written in code. I just hope the CIA and Mil. Int. have already broken that code and know what info this note is actually relaying.

I just looked up the definition of....

oxymoron [fr. Gk oxys sharp,keen + moros foolish - more at moron](1657): French Resistance

Yes Bob Brown and Kerry nettle should take up this worthwhile causus celebrus.
However they seem too busy endorsing the causes of our own "HOME GROWN" jihadists, to spare the time.
And one must look after one's own first.

It seems like someone at least read and understood the (original) leaked Zarqawi memo. He spilled his guts in that thing and gave away the insurgents' biggest weakness as their motivation for moving quickly. Zarqawi spelled out quite clearly that the biggest threat they face is Iraqi forces representing a legitimate government of Iraq fighting against them. He almost certainly overestimated his chances against the Marines (you can't do squat if your soldiers are all dead) but the Marines at least knew that it was much, much more important to build up new Iraqi military forces that had a chance against these thugs than to pound the insurgents into dogmeat ASAP. Because Iraqi forces working under even a halfway decent government, let alone anything on the road to a fullscale democracy, would have the public support that would deny the insurgents of any advantage, and even of any reasonable chance of "laying low". The only advantage the thugs ever had was the claim that they were fighting a foreign enemy, when that enemy is Iraqi they lose that, and the Iraqis are damned tired of thugs.

"...or until God chooses us as martyrs."

I've heard it's very impolite to keep God waiting. But I'm sure we can find some way to help.

Habib, Tassie's off limits, I have family I like in the state and wouldn't wish those scum on them. france on the other hand is half way to full conversion so lets help them along and send them the detritus of the region. It's only a matter of time until something blows up in france, but that'll probably be blamed on the Yanks as usual.

nic - An Al Qaeda homeland; I love it!

al-Zarqawi frightened? He'd quake in his boots if he had to face this lot on a level playing field (ie, without resorting to hiding among civilians).

This memo isn't new. It's the same old Zarqawi Memo we read back in February. A slightly different translation, perhaps, but these phrases are almost identical to the one publishe in the National Review.

Le Résistance Français? Mais certainement! They will rise up and fight fiercely —

— just as soon as the Americans land.

Historicial note: In WWII, the French had the lowest per capita number of resistance fighters of any Western nation. I believe Denmark had the highest.

Smash,
If AP has quoted correctly then this memo seems different from the one you linked to. I would say that some of the similarities you see lie in part from the fact that people do tend to use the same phrasing over and over again and in part from the fact that the problems he faced back then haven't gone away but have only gotten worse. But the details referred to seem different enough.

The true question has to be this: Assuming this is true then what next? How do we best use this to screw them over even more? o_O

Historical note: In WWII, the French had the lowest per capita number of resistance fighters of any Western nation. I believe Denmark had the highest.

I find it plausible, but gosh, the French resistance seem to get the most mention. The media wouldn't mislead us, would they?

"If the militants fail to take over Iraq, "we will have to leave for another land to uphold the (Islamic) banner, or until God chooses us as martyrs," the statement says."

Hey God! They want it, we want it, when are you taking up their offer?

Oh no, Al-Queada are being oppressed. Does P.Garrett know of this and will he run to their aid???
How dare the US military Squeeze these poor misunderstood people.
There's one thing for sure, the longer the militants fight, the fewer of them there are. The US killed 64 in one day just over a week ago and most other skirmishes result in huge casualties for the militants. Even the Britts and doing a great job in reducing their numbers. Now the Iraqi forces are getting involved and if I was a militant, i'd hate to get caught by the countrymen who towns I'm destroying.
Congrats to the Marines and all other ground forces involved and a big congrats to traning the Iraqi's to help out with the fight against militants.

I find it plausible, but gosh, the French resistance seem to get the most mention.

Well, in comparison to the rest of France, the resistance came out looking even better.

"A leader of militants in Iraq has purportedly written to Osama bin Laden"

How exactly does a rotting corpse read a letter?

Wallah! If the infidel George is correct, that would be why we have gotten no support from the exalted Osama. Bugger all! To whom do I write now?

Bugger all! To whom do I write now?

Abu,

Try The Guardian.

Andjam,

ROFL!

Y'all continue to sell the French short as fighting men. In WWII, the Germans assigned the Vichy government the task of manning the garrison at Madagascar to protect their southern flank. The British showed up, expecting the French to walk over to their side, but the French fought ferociously for 6 months before running out of gas. Give a Frenchman a cause he believes in and you've got a fighting fool!

Ta-ta, al-Zarq ol' buddy. I hear they have some nice villas coming open on the Saudi Riviera, just as soon as those princes head for the safety of the U.S. Which, apparently, won't be long now.

Andjam, i think French had also the highest number of collaborators per capita.

I watched something about French "Resistance" exploits - they were purposely mislabelling wine shipments to spite the Germans. Imagine the anger & frustration of some soldat on Atlantic Wall, who got a ration of red wine instead of white one.

I thought I read somewhere, oh, Rolling Stone, I think, that JFKerry dismissively explained away his vote for the Iraq war (before he opposed the Iraq war...) by stating he didn't think Bush would f*ck it up so much.

Maybe he meant he didn't think Bush would f*ck up the terrorists so much... After all, that would be consistent with his position.

Wait one dam minute! The U.S. is losing the WoT and the war in Iraq; ask the French, read Le Merde. They're the experts, possessing experience and history as proof.

The Me-163 was the only operational rocket fighter in history. Like all rockets, it was basically a flying can of explosives, in this case, high-test hydrogen peroxide. Very few were shot down; most losses happened when they exploded on launch or crashed.

They were built by slave labor, mostly French.

The Me-163 on display in the US Smithsonian was booby trapped; the acceleration of launch would throw the pilot back and rip open the HTHP fuel tank. On the seat, in French, was written "I hate my job."

So yeah, the French Resistance was vastly overrated, but personally I admire the guy who did that one.

How can we justify squeezing Islamic extremists when we didn't pass the ERA?

Sorry, channeling the 70's there for a moment...

The same shipping lines that smuggled French luxury products (perfume, etc.) to Saddamists could surely be used to smuggle some Jihadis back into France.

"Historicial note: In WWII, the French had the lowest per capita number of resistance fighters of any Western nation. "

I think Holland actually had the highest number nazi collaborators.

I seem to remember that many Arabs were extremely disillusioned when Coalition troops so completely and quickly won the initial phase of fighting in Iraq, while they were being told by Al Jazera that Iraq was winning. Now, many Arabs no longer trust Al Jazera as a credible news source.

I wonder if Le Monde will suffer the same fate in France when despite all the defeatism, America emerges victorious.

Osama yo mama is a Skanky Ho.

M. Latham.

(Lathams idea of the 'War against Terrorism')

Wow- who would have thought Aussies were so bitter and full of resentment. When all fails resort to french bashing... (fueled by an inferiority complex, perhaps?) My vote goes to Peter Garrett!

Don't know about France, Tim, but Sweden is getting hospitable. There's a disheartening post by Norweigan Kafir at LGF.

--"four months before the formation of the promised Iraqi government, hoping to spoil their plan."--

Seems like it's the same memo to me.

4 months?

Sandy P.,
Good point! Here's further evidence that both you and Smash were right via Smash's site:

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/167/world/Clarification_Iraq_Al_Zarqawi_%3A.shtml

Sucks to be wrong. ^_^;