How bin Laden Catapulted One Man Into War [Al Qaeda in Iraq!]

Wall Street Journal Online ^ | May 3, 2011 | John Bussey

[Enchante]

Fast forward to a day in Anbar Province, Iraq. Mr. Pottinger, now an intelligence officer supporting an infantry battalion, is standing over the body of a high level al Qaeda operative that his unit has just killed. It was an intense and lengthy manhunt. Mr. Pottinger is rifling through the man’s pockets, looking for additional documentation. Nearby is the mangled body of the man’s guard, who moments before detonated a suicide vest in a last, and failed, effort to kill the attackers.

“I was standing over this guy’s corpse, looking down at him and thinking of all of the resources we had devoted to killing him....

[Enchante]

article is primarily about one man's experiences and changing views on how to fight Al Qaeda, but I was particularly struck by the passage about killing a "high level Al Qaeda operative" in Iraq...... since we have so often been assured that Iraq had nothing nothing nothing to do with fighting Al Qaeda or the War on Terror......

and a WaPo article has asserted that the first crucial lead which led to Bin Laden's courier and to Bin Laden himself was from another high-level Al Qaeda operative captured in...... IRAQ.

Whatever else one thinks about Iraq, we killed lots of Al Qaeda there, used it as flypaper to attract and kill terrorists from all over, and got invaluable intel which eventually led us to Bin Laden himself. Libs will CONTINUE to try to ignore, downplay, and/or mis-represent the facts of the past 10-20 years. We must get the most complete and accurate info circulated asap.

[kenavi]

It's undeniable that there were more Al-Qaeda in Iraq after we invaded than before we invaded, but that's only part of the big picture.

No less than Donald Rumsfeld questioned if we were creating more terrorists than we were killing.

The new regime in Washington, D.C. is almost indistinguishable in its policies from the previous one, or is benefitting from those policies. Responsibility imposes a more honest appraisal of what can or can't be done, sometimes the only choice is between bad and worse.

[arrogantsob]

Many of us knew of these connections from the very beginning. Articles on FR made it clear that Saddam had been working with and supporting Al Queda from the start of its war against us. Even the Aspirin factory Clinton blew up had Iraqi connections.

[arrogantsob]

What has always been undeniable is the close connection Saddam had with terrorists of every stripe including Al Queda. His intelligence agents were intimately involved with OBL’s group (whatever its name at a particular time) from his emergence as an enemy of the US.