Press TV has talked with Zayd al-Isa, a Middle East expert from London, to discuss the deadly attacks in Iraq and its behind-the-scenes instigators. What follows is an approximate transcription of toe interview. Press TV: Mr. Isa more than 4,000 people, just in a few months, have been killed in Iraq. Why are we seeing this upsurge of violence this year? Isa: You are absolutely right. There is a dramatic upsurge in the deadly violence in Iraq and that started right at the beginning of this year or even before it. That is part and parcel of the wider strategy adopted by Saudi Arabia which merely focused at the beginning at Syria, convincing al-Qaeda to, actually, form Jibhat al-Nusrah in order to topple the regime in Syria but its strategy spectacularly failed and that is why it sought to widen that strategy to include Iraq and this violence is, actually, part and parcel of the dramatic surge in the power influence and prowess of al-Qaeda, which is largely due to the arming, funding, paying salaries to the mercenaries converging on Syria and the dramatic logistical support, which was acknowledged by the Washington Post , by the New York Times , which actually emphasize that the majority of this funding and arming has found its way to Jibhat al-Nusrah, which is a Wahabi, Salafi group and according to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the al-Qaeda leader, is nothing but part and parcel of al-Qaeda in Iraq and has been also the financing and shipment of… by Saudi Arabia and we also had acknowledgements that there are no moderate groups in Syria. All that funding has actually, dramatically, increased the power of al-Qaeda which has been launching attacks on a daily basis, mainly targeting Shia areas in Baghdad and the south of Iraq and also targeting the security forces in Anbar and in Nineveh. Press TV: You said that Saudi Arabia is behind this. Why do you think that Saudi Arabia is behind it and what is it that they are trying to accomplish by doing this if they are behind it? Isa: Well, the main reason, actually, encouraging Saudi Arabia to do that is, it actually desperately needs to destabilize Iraq in order to save its own skin and stabilize its country because the image and the position that it has propagated all the decades, is that it is the defender and the guardian of Sunni Islam but now its people discovered this patently deceitful myth by, actually, witnessing the dramatic intense support by the Saudi regime to the secular and tyrannical dictatorships in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen and [it has] convinced the Saudi people that the regime is simply intent on holding at bay, if not turning the tide of popular uprisings. And we must not forget that the Saudi regime adheres to the Wahhabi, Salafi ideology so it needs to prove to its people, beyond a shadow of doubt, that it is engaged now in, actually, dealing and confronting an existential threat coming from the Shias and mainly the Islamic Republic of Iran. That is why it is intent and bent on sparking and triggering a sectarian war between the Sunnis and the Shias in Iraq, in Syria and also most recently in Lebanon in order to provide the evidence to its people and to counter and stave off any internal uprisings, which we have witnessed, that it has already surmounted the impregnable shield that the Saudi regime always have, which is the sectarian divisions. That is why the Saudis have ramped up the sectarian rhetoric and ratcheted up the sectarian tensions in Iraq by, actually, throwing its weight behind the ongoing protests which are taking place in Anbar and Nineveh and activating, which has played a major role, in activating the sanctuaries and safe havens of (for) al-Qaeda and ensure that there is an effective recruitment going on by, actually, creating the ideal environment by that sectarian rhetoric and intense ratcheting up of the sectarian divisions in Iraq.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 06:12:30 +0000
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