Terrorism

When it comes to Iraq, George W. Bush has 'œonly an intermittent relationship with reality,' said Joe Klein in Time. His latest fantasy, though, reveals just how desperate he has become. 'œThe same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq,' Bush declared last week, 'œwere the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th.' That assertion, which the administration used to get us into Iraq, was discredited long ago. But Bush is now reviving it in a shameless attempt to rally dwindling public support for the war. The group of insurgents calling themselves al Qaida in Iraq, or al Qaida in Mesopotamia, may share the suicidal fanaticism of Osama bin Laden's original band of terrorists, said Frank Rich in The New York Times, but the two groups are only very loosely affiliated. The Iraqi group consists mostly of Sunni extremists who had no grudge against the U.S. back on Sept. 11, 2001; it was Bush's ill-conceived invasion and badly managed occupation that turned them into terrorists. Bush, though, wants to erase all distinctions among Islamic terrorists, to hide the fact that the original al Qaida has regrouped in Pakistan and North Africa, while we have spent $500 billion and 3,700 American lives fighting a civil war in Iraq.

Even U.S. intelligence agencies agree that Bush has it exactly backwards, said Fred Kaplan in Slate.com. A new National Intelligence Estimate released this week says that the original al Qaida 'œis back in full force,' and poses 'œa persistent and evolving terrorist threat' to the U.S. While we've focused on Iraq, the report says, the terrorist organization's leadership has found a 'œsafe haven' in the northwestern tribal areas of Pakistan, which our so-called ally Gen. Pervez Musharraf has essentially ceded to al Qaida to save his own neck. As a result, al Qaida now has more money, more training camps, and a greater ability to plan attacks in the West than at any time since 9/11. Far from reducing al Qaida's ranks, the report says, the war in Iraq has functioned as 'œa huge recruiting device' for them.

Don't let the media elite fool you, said Clifford May in National Review Online. Al Qaida in Iraq is every bit the threat that Bush claims it is. As the intelligence estimate reports, the group will 'œprobably seek to leverage' its strength in Iraq to mount an attack on U.S. soil. Evidence of its role in the recent London car bomb plots is also emerging. 'œIf we retreat from Iraq,' it will be a huge victory for al Qaida, and Iraq 'œwill be transformed into a base from which our enemies can safely plan to kill us.' Not all of Iraq's terrorists may be formal bin Laden allies, said The New York Sun in an editorial. But it's pointless to look for distinctions among Islamic terrorist groups, which all have the same ultimate goal'”the destruction of the West. What matters is defeating them wherever they exist.

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Steve Chapman

Tribune