Iranian duplicity and Middle East politics: Interesting references from the mind of al Qaeda

At the Weekly Standard, Dan Darling, a counter-terrorism consultant for the Manhattan Institute Center for Policing Terrorism, focuses on one interesting paragraph on page 9 of the al-Zawahiri letter.

And do the brothers forget that we have more than one hundred prisoners - many of whom are from the leadership who are wanted in their countries - in the custody of the Iranians? And even if we attack the Shia out of necessity, then why do you announce this matter and make it public, which compels the Iranians to take counter measures? And do the brothers forget that both we and the Iranians need to refrain from harming each other at this time in which the Americans are targeting us?

Not only is it clear that the Iranians are once again very much involved in stirring up the troubles in the Middle East, but it is also equally clear they are playing both ends against the middle again. The Iranians are using their "custody" of senior al Qaeda officials, something they have never denied, to restrain al Qaeda from interfering with their own Shia interests in Iraq.

Now that we are done bombing Baghdad, maybe it is time to start Tomahawking Tehran.