(Vanity) Al Qaeda in a Quagmire

grey_whiskers ^ | 1-1-2007 | grey_whiskers

[grey_whiskers]

Everyone knows that the Al Qaeda received a great morale booster, back during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, as a result the infamous “Blackhawk Down” episode. As Osama bin Laden himself said: "We found that out from our brothers who fought the Americans in Somalia. They did not see it as a power worthy of any mention. It was the big propaganda that the United State used to terrify people before fighting them. Our brothers, who were here in Afghanistan, also tried the Americans. God gave them and the mujahidin success in Somalia and the United States pull out, trailing disappointment, defeat, and failure behind it. It achieved nothing. It left quicker than people had imagined." This was in an interview in October of 2001.

As a result of this, jihadists around the world were encouraged. Surely the United States would turn tail and run! And not only the jihadists; in The New York Times R.W. Apple Jr. penned an article published Oct. 31, 2001 entitled, “A Military Quagmire Remembered: Afghanistan as Vietnam.” I don’t know for sure that this was the first public use of that word, but given the eminence of the Gray Lady, it is close enough. A meme was born.

By Christmas 2001, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan had re-opened; by January 2002, the Taliban had relinquished control of the government of Afghanistan. Did someone say “Quagmire”? If there was a quagmire in Afghanistan, it was not the United States who lost.

Fast-forward to Iraq. This time, the usual suspects were ready almost before the war had started. Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched on March 20, 2003. In less than a week, Robert Fisk was declaring in the Dissident Voice that “Iraq stunned the Americans and British last night by broadcasting video tape of captured and dead American troops - the nightmare of both George Bush and Tony Blair ... The body of one American soldier was seen with a great red gash on his neck, while five US prisoners appeared on screen. One, a black female soldier, had been wounded, while a male serviceman said he had been 'only following orders'. ... The film will increase internal support for Saddam Hussein, because it will be regarded as proof that the American-British force will be beaten.”

Meanwhile, over in the real world, things were going quite differently for the Americans. By April 9, 2002 (three weeks after the Invasion) the Presidential Palace had been overrun and Saddam Hussein was in hiding. You may have heard of something in the braking noose this weekend c concerning the former Iraqi despot. The contrast was startling. When President Bush ’41 lost his election, Hussein stood on a balcony and fired a rifle in salute. When Saddam Hussein dropped out of the picture, President Bush ’43 went to bed early. He didn’t even bother to watch the coverage on CNN. Again, what a quagmire!

What then, do I say of the 3,000 U.S. military fatalities in Iraq?

I am proud to be an American. And I am proud of their service! But 3,000 casualties in over three years does not a quagmire make. If you want quagmire, look at Ypres (over 550,000 dead in three months) or The Somme (58,000 British killed in the first day).

And, by the way, as for the idea that the resistance was to come from Iraqis—please explain this quote, from December 2002: “If the Americans dared to land in Iraq, they will be dragged in quagmire because the Americans have no experience in ground battle. ... A new laboratory for modern warfare is looming in our neighborhood Iraq”

The source? Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former President of Iran. You know, the same Iran that’s been making noises about nuclear fuel lately.

(The quotes from Fisk and Rafsanjani were taken from the following website: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Operation_Iraqi_Freedom:_Beginnings_of_a_Quagmire#December_2002 , so your political mileage may vary.)

So, what else is there to look at concerning quagmires recently? Oh, yes, that’s right—Somalia. Only it isn’t Blackhawk Down, and the United States isn’t in retreat. What happened? The jihadists resurgent, fresh from their historic victory over U.S. forces in 1993, were trying to follow up by expanding into Ethiopia. Oh, you didn’t hear about this on CNN? Maybe that’s because it couldn’t be spun—even indirectly—to make President Bush look bad. This time, it was the Islamists who lost. Badly. “I came, I got shelled by artillery, I fled.” And they lost to Ethiopia. This is like…like...OK, somebody’s got to say it. This is like Oklahoma losing the Fiesta Bowl to Boise State. Not exactly a sterling moment, boys.

But I think I have it figured out. When Islamists use the word quagmire, they mean it in a Pickwickian sense! I didn’t even know that they even read Charles Dickens. Maybe there’s hope for Western Civilization yet.

[grey_whiskers]

Happy New Year!

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1711848/posts?page=26#26

CBS Evening News
Somalia's Islamic Militia Seizes Village
by Mohamed Olad Hassan Associated Press Writer
BAIDOA, Somalia, Sep. 30, 2006
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/30/ap/world/mainD8KF9N1O0.shtml

Racist Arab & Islamic Iranian Quotes towards Africans
RaceAndHistory
Posted on 09/21/2006 5:52:37 AM EDT by PRePublic
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1705429/posts