As a resident of the International (aka Green) Zone, I have a deeply personal interest in this story:
Security officials foiled a plot that would have put hundreds of al-Qaida men at guard posts around Baghdad’s Green Zone, home to the U.S. and other foreign embassies as well as the Iraqi government, the interior minister told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
A senior Defense Ministry official confirmed the plot, and said the 421 al-Qaida fighters involved were actually recruited to storm the U.S. and British embassies and take hostages. Several ranking Defense Ministry officials have been jailed in the plot, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Al-Qaeda is increasingly desperate. Their own foolish and murderous choices leave them with eroding support from Iraqis. I like being alive quite a bit. Al-Qaeda couldn’t have come close to taking over even a small part of the zone with 421 ‘workers’ but they certainly would have stirred things up. Of course, when the only things you sell are tragedy, violence and empty promises of an eternal reward that can’t be proven, it’s hard to earn repeat customers. Al-Qaeda is doomed because they don’t have anything to bring to the table. Nobody wants to invest in a death cult.