A letter in July from Iraq to Egypt about an "Islamic Caliphate"....True?

[madfloridian]

Our little red-headed Congressman, Adam "Opie" Putnam, was spouting this yesterday to a group of people here to excuse the war. The article is by our political editor who appears to be so enthralled by Opie that he can not do anything but drool over him. So I read that and wondered.

Here is the link and the quote.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051129/NEWS/511290381/1004

The Bartow Republican was asked questions on a wide range of domestic and international issues, including the issues of torture and the war in Iraq.

Asked whether he thought that the war is related to the global fight on terror, Putnam said he has no question that Iraq is at the center of that war.

He read from a letter that he said was sent by the top al-Qaida operative in Iraq to the top al-Qaida operative in Egypt in July, in which the Iraq operative said the war does not end with the American pullout and called for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East.

The letter, Putnam said, also mentioned that half of al-Qaida's battle is in getting its efforts into the news media.

Putnam said the work of bringing democracy to Iraq is progressing and the country now has 22 Iraqi battalions trained and capable of operating on their own.

Now to me that is not an answer to the question at all, but just for my sake I would like to know more about the letter. I did a search on "islamic caliphate", and found some stuff but not much.

New talking points? Hmmm...mm...fear fear and terror.

[tx_dem41]

1. Old talking points....this has always been AQ's stated goal. n/t

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Also a way to spread fear and ignorance about Islam

This person doesn't understand Islam, and his words imply that al Qaeda is the controlling force behind all of Islam, which makes as much sense as saying that Rudolph, the women's clinic bomber, is the leader of all Christian sects in this country and creates their policies.

Kalif can be a spiritual office as well as a political one, and the title is used in Sufi orders to indicate a person of a certain spiritual development. The last caliphate, I believe, went the way of the Ottoman Empire after WWI. I can't see a major Caliphate operating in the Middle East today because of the nature of Islam today-Iran wouldn't be part of a Sunni organization, for one thing. Anyway, there are others that know far more than me about these things, and could articulate it better.

But doesn't this congressperson realize that his preaching of fear and hatred towards Islam is playing into the hands of extremists on both the Christian and Islamic sides who want to have a war between them?

[RBHam]

3. Al CIA-duh always comes to the rescue...

Especially when Bush's poll numbers are dropping and the PNAC's War Of Terror is questioned.

[Bridget Burke]

4. I'm sure he could find a letter between white separatist leaders....

Calling for the establishment of The Confederacy Reborn. (In fact, Rep Bartow may be on the distribution list.) That doesn't mean the cockeyed plan was discussed by more than 2 people.

I read the rest of the article. The idiot is a veritable wellspring of wrongheaded ideas. So I doubt there's anything at all to the letter except the desire to start a New Crusade.

[orwell]

5. 22 Battalions?

Up from 1 just a couple of months ago.

Excuse me while I call Bushit.