Al-Qaeda's Iranian Presence Should be a Greater Concern

Yesterday, the U.S. government formally announced what many of us have known for sometime: there is a direct connection between al-Qaeda and Iran.  The Treasury Department sanctioned “six members of a terrorist network based in Iran" for serving as "the core pipeline through which al-Qaeda moves money, facilitators and operatives from across the Middle East to South Asia," principally meaning Pakistan and Afghanistan. The leader of the group, Ezedin Abdul Aziz Khalil, is a Syrian who has been operating from Iran under an agreement signed in 2005.”

Currently, Iran shelters a “substantial al-Qaeda network on its soil”, and “extensive intelligence [exists] that Iran...support[ed] the Mesopotamian branch of al-Qaeda.”

Our current war against violent Islamism is predicated on the principle that terrorist networks cannot be permitted to obtain weapons of mass destruction.  Despite the recent spate of victories, the United States has struck against al-Qaeda, including the killing of Osama bin Laden, this remains a danger.

As David Frum has written, the U.S.-led efforts against terrorism since 9/11 have significantly reduced the capacity of al-Qaeda and like-minded organizations to plot coordinated and sophisticated mass casualty attacks.  Permitting an al-Qaeda ally like Iran to obtain nuclear weapons could change everything.

Simply put: Stuxnet cannot last forever.

Unfortunately, instead of talking about this, the House Republicans have chosen to spend the last week threatening to force the United States into a default - even though plenty of countries are still willing to lend to us.  Thanks guys.