If anyone needed a reminder of how sinister the enemy is, they got it this week in the form of an audio tape containing what U.S. officials believe is the voice of Osama bin Laden. In it, the al-Qaida leader and mass murderer allies himself with the most blood-thirsty terrorist in Iraq, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, the man who put the video-taped beheading of hostages into the terrorist playbook.
It’s a match made in hell, and one that leaves no doubt what is at stake in Iraq.
Members of Congress and others who opposed the U.S.-led invasion warned that it might spawn more terror. Many who supported the invasion said it was only a matter of time before Saddam Hussein would have provided deadly aid to terrorists like al-Zarqawi and bin Laden. Elements of truth exist in both arguments, but at this point people on both sides of the debate can agree on this much: Coalition and Iraqi forces are fighting more than a home-grown insurgency. They’re fighting al-Qaida, and they must prevail.
That means moving forward with elections scheduled for Jan. 30, even though the major Sunni party has withdrawn. By bringing al-Zarqawi under the al-Qaida tent, bin Laden – himself a Sunni Muslim from Saudi Arabia – has put himself at odds with Iraq’s Shiite population, which outnumbers Sunnis and suffered under the ruthless Saddam. Shiites have been the target of al-Zarqawi’s deadliest car bombings, and now stand at the threshold of power. A democratically elected coalition that includes Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis who reject bin Laden and Zarqawi holds the best hope for stability in Iraq.
Postponing elections now would only embolden the new bin Laden-al-Zarqawi alliance. It also would shake the confidence of Shiite leaders, who already are wary of the U.S. commitment to a free Iraq. An election boycott by a violent minority, one endorsed by the world’s deadliest terrorists, cannot be allowed to carry weight.
The recent escalation of violence in Iraq shows how desperate al-Zarqawi and Iraqi insurgents are to stop democracy. They know that chaos is their only ticket to victory. Now that Osama bin Laden has declared himself part of that effort, it’s clearer than ever that it must be stopped.
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