Al-Qaeda the winner: Beazley

By Don Woolford
September 24, 2003

OSAMA bin Laden and al-Qaeda have been winners from the Iraq war, former Opposition leader Kim Beazley said tonight.

Mr Beazley said the removal of Saddam Hussein gave al-Qaeda the opportunity to operate freely in Iraq and the war had taken pressure off Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The former defence minister, who lost a Labor leadership challenge against Simon Crean in the middle of the year, said in a Perth lecture United States forces in Iraq were a magnet for anti-American Jihadists through the region.

"It is probable that Saddam's security services had communication with al-Qaeda from the time of the organisation's foundation," Mr Beazley said.

"It is also true that bin Laden made supportive remarks about Hussein in the lead up to the war.

"These are tactical issues. Strategically the removal of Saddam Hussein and the provision of political opportunity for jihadist forces to operate freely in Iraq has been a core al-Qaeda objective.

"There is little yet in the Iraqi outcome to cause bin Laden regret."

Mr Beazley said from al-Qaeda's point of view, the shift of the focus from Afghanistan and pressure on Pakistan was even more satisfactory.

This was where bin Laden had been bottled up.

Mr Beazley said Afghanistan was a disgrace.

A resurgent Taliban had been able to move from individual terror acts to more complex military campaigns, temporarily seizing territory, terrifying populations and undermining the government.

This had forced alliances with warlords who flouted control from Kabul and lived off the proceeds of crime, including drug sales to Australians.

"It is good that Saddam has gone, but the price has been high enough to provide an argument for a different way of doing it," he said.