For the neocons, “al-Qaeda” is a dream come true. For instance, the current arch nemesis of the clash of civilizations gang, Iran—or rather, the latest target, as the previous target, Iraq, is mired in engineered “sectarian violence,” and other targets, such as Syria, await their turn—has supposedly fallen afoul of “al-Qaeda in Iraq,” as the corporate media reports. “The leader of an al-Qaida umbrella group in Iraq threatened to wage war against Iran unless it stops supporting Shi’ites in Iraq within two months, according to an audiotape,” the Associated Press would have us believe, mostly because we are suckers for these sort of things. “Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who leads the group Islamic State in Iraq, said his Sunni fighters have been preparing for four years to wage a battle against Shi’ite-dominated Iran,” precisely as their handlers—the CIA, Mossad, and MI6—have planned.

But wait a minute. Didn’t the nine eleven whitewash commission conclude that “al-Qaeda” is in cahoots with Hezbollah and thus Iran? “In relation to Iran, commission investigators said intelligence ’showed far greater potential for collaboration between Hezbollah and al Qaeda than many had previously thought.’ Iran is a primary sponsor of Hezbollah, or Party of God, the Lebanon-based anti-Israel group that has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States,” the CIA’s favorite newspaper, the Washington Post, reported on June 26, 2004, never mind “ancient animosities between Shiite and Sunni Muslims,” an angle mentioned by the Associated Press.

On the one hand, “al-Qaeda” supposedly declares a hankering to attack Iran, while on the other, according to NewsroomAmerica, “al-Qaeda” is “using Iran to organize and launch operations against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq and elsewhere, western officials say…. The Financial Times reports that while the extent of al-Qaeda operations based in Iran isn’t clear, it is believed to be taking place with the direct approval of Iran’s hardline Islamic government.”

Go figure.

Last year, the dead Osama bin Laden told “Sunnis in Iraq to retaliate against Shiites, deviating from al Qaeda’s stand of not promoting sectarian violence,” CNN reported. Around the same time, the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the one-legged master terrorist wonder, “railed against Shiites in a four-hour-long audiotape harangue posted on the Internet” and described as “an unprecedented screed that chronicled what al-Zarqawi said was a Shiite campaign throughout history to destroy Islam and help foreign invaders of Muslim lands,” according to USA Today.

It is precisely this fickle character the neocons love, as Osama and Abu Musab will lash out on cue at Shi’ites one day and team up with them the next, never mind purported genocide, betrayal, or bad feelings spanning centuries. Of course, it helps that the commoners, to say nothing of no shortage of senators, are virtual no-nothings when it comes grasping the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam.

A month after the nine eleven whitewash commission made its absurd claim, Iran “arrested a number of Iranian supporters of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda group,” ABC News reported. “Iran says it has arrested and repatriated hundreds of Al Qaeda suspects in the last two years,” likely because they recognize a gaggle of CIA-ISI created patsies and mental patients when they see them. Even though the whitewash commission made sure to implicate Iran, “they said there was no evidence that Iran helped Al Qaeda with the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington,” not that a lackadaisical public is capable of making crucial distinctions, as millions remain convinced Saddam and Osama plotted mayhem and mass murder, mostly because they hate our freedom to jack up the credit card at the local mall.

Of course, as Rick Santorum realizes, the American public is easily swayed by such things, never mind the Brothers Grimm character. “In an alarming display of fearmongering, former Republican Senator Rick Santorum has suggested that a series of ‘unfortunate events,’ namely terrorist attacks, will occur within the next year and change American citizen’s perception of the war,” writes Paul Joseph Watson. “Appearing on the Hugh Hewitt radio show, Santorum also hyped the necessity of “confronting Iran in the Middle East,” and predicted that Giuliani, Romney and Tommy Thompson would be the three surviving Republican candidates who would go head to head in the race for the nomination…. Santorum went on to clearly imply that terror attacks will occur inside America which will alter the body politic and lead to a reversal of the anti-war sentiment now dominating the country.”

Naturally, this “anti-war sentiment” is not only easy for our “representatives” to ignore, as the Democrats pandered to it and then ignored widespread antiwar sentiment after the election was over last November, but it will also be easy to reverse with a bit of manufactured terrorism. Moreover, it is no mistake Santorum mentioned terrorism and Iran in the same breath.

So powerful is “al-Qaeda,” we are told the CIA-ISI created terror organization is operating in India. According to B. Raman, writing for Rediff News, “pro-Al Qaeda jihadi organizations from Pakistan,” including Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, mostly active in the disputed areas of Jammu and Kashmir, are active in India, primarily because of “India’s close relations with the US and Israel. Al Qaeda not only looks upon India as a close associate of the US similar to the UK, but also as providing favorable conditions for its overseas operations directed against US nationals and interests in Indian territory.”

Finally, CIA asset Mahmoud Abbas “said on Monday the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is protecting al Qaeda and allowing it to gain a foothold in Gaza,” Reuters reports. “It is Hamas that is protecting al Qaeda, and through its bloody behavior Hamas has become very close to al Qaeda,” said Abbas, blaming the phantom organization, or database. “That is why Gaza is in danger and needs help.”

Actually, Gaza is threatened by Israel, currently engaged in a blockade “threatening to destroy the territory’s commercial sector and drive more people into the hands of extremists,” that it to say those resisting occupation. “In the last three weeks, 75 per cent of Gaza’s factories have closed because they are not allowed to import raw material or export finished products, forcing thousands of families to rely on food aid to survive,” notes Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization. “In reality, a policy of collective punishment is being imposed upon 1.4 million people, in violation of international humanitarian law and contradictory to Israel’s interest. Destroying Gaza’s economy only exacerbates dependence on extreme elements.”

Abbas, following his CIA script, signed off on by Olmert, is oblivious to all of this.

But never mind. We have an “al-Qaeda” epidemic just about everywhere, even Gaza.