August 15, 2009

What happened here?

I heard a brief BBC story about this last night and wasn't sure I could believe it.

Hamas government forces stormed a mosque in the Gaza Strip on Friday and apparently subdued a heavily armed group of Al Qaeda-inspired militants whose imam had vowed to impose theocratic rule in the Palestinian territory.

Wait. Suddenly Hamas is killing Al Qaeda terrorists? Does that mean that in some way America and Hamas are on the same side?

I can't wait to hear John Bolton try to spin this.

To be clear, I don't really think Hamas has suddenly flipped sides; I think this is an internal power struggle. Still, hearing the words "Hamas stormed a mosque in which Al Qaeda members were gathered" on the news at midnight last night really gave me a "what world is this?" moment.

Posted by Linkmeister at August 15, 2009 08:48 AM | TrackBack
Comments

I had much the same response. I agree, I think this is just fighting for control - the Al Qaeda group doesn't think Hamas is sufficiently Islamically pure (a scary thought). But you're right - for one brief shining moment, Hamas was on America's side!

Posted by: hedera at August 16, 2009 12:05 PM

Proof that reality will always out-strange fiction.

Posted by: Juli Thompson at August 17, 2009 09:37 AM