Al-Qaeda Group In Syria Planning Attacks In U.S.?

Link: Khorasan is Al-Qaeda


According to the link, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) believes that the recently-identified "Khorasan Group" (sounds more like a Manhattan Hedge Fund than it does a terrorist group) may be planning attacks in the United States.  The article identifies Khorasan as a group of "battle-hardened Al-Qaeda veterans".   If this group consists of members of Al-Qaeda (a club you cannot quit once you join), then why are we STILL using the name "Khorasan"?  If the branches of the federal government are going to persist in disseminating the false idea that the enemy consists of the Islamic States of the Levant (ISIS or IS) and a bunch of disparate, non-aligned groups, then it's time someone forced them to pull their heads out of the sand.  The enemy is not the IS, or Khorasan, or Al-Qaeda in Syria, or the Al-Nusra Front, or Al-Qaeda in my Granny's Panties.  The enemy is Al-Qaeda.  Any group that is Sunni-affiliated and wishes to destroy the west and the United States in particular, is, for practical purposes, Al-Qaeda. Leave the differentiating to Langley, where they understand the ground truth.  They are paid to separate these various groups and collect identifying intelligence on the members.  It is part and parcel to what they do.  But the policy makers need to understand that our enemy is not splintered, but united under one goal: to kill Americans.

If we create a military strategy that is based on attacking and destroying one group at a time, we will find an enemy that can reconstitute itself very quickly. Once our proxy "Free Syrian Army" has been trained and is ready for action, they should be given a map of eastern Syria and ordered to kill everything except civilians and domesticated pets.  Can you imagine an officer trying to explain to his troops, "well, this group isn't Al-Qaeda because they have a different name, so try and leave them in peace for now"?  Approaching hostilities in Syria with the idea that we are dealing with a dozen or so separate groups is suicide.  If The Al-Nusra Front does not want to be in the cross hairs, then they had better get behind Col. Travis' line in the sand.  Everyone on one side gets to live (but we're watching you), and everyone out to the east makes a lovely target.

Wars are not meant to be fought by artists or bohemians.  Its easy to screw things up with too much detail.  My goodness, many wars have been lost due to over complication.  We are starting this effort off on the wrong foot with the recruiting of a mercenary army and a bombing campaign that is not seconded by a ground offensive.  But the enemy is stuck in a bit of a hard spot as well.  The IS is still trying to determine if its a conventional army or a large guerilla force.  What happens just outside of Baghdad may go a long way to resolving that question.  From this point on, the United States and its coalition of the invisible (reminds me of Wonder Woman's invisible plane...the plane was invisible, but there she was flying the damn thing for everyone to see) needs to keep everything as simple as possible.  Remember that since September 11, 2001, we have had only one true enemy: Al-Qaeda (sorry, George W. Bush, but Saddam doesn't count).  I define an enemy as someone who hates everything about you.  It's safe to say that Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Al-Qaeda fit that description; regardless of the variety of names under which they fester and erupt.