Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Not dealing with Syria has reanimated the Iraq nightmare

That's certainly true for Iraq itself, as Al Qaeda in Iraq morphed into ISIS using the energy of the Assad regime's brutality.

But now it appears that it's true overseas as well, given the apparent links of the Charlie Hebdo attackers to this Iraq jihadi case ("19th arrondissement/Buttes Chaumont cell") from 2008 (New York Times). It's particularly interesting to read that article given its perspective that the Iraqi jihadi threat was subsiding.

What changed since that threat assessment?

Syria.