Replies

Tie this item below in with the exchange I had with Laurie Mylroie in 2003 [noted in post #244 above], where she wrote:

"Dear [Matchett-PI], Thanks very much for your exceedingly kind comments. And I'm most appreciative that you picked up that remark: You can go to war on the basis of the WMD, but not on the basis of terrorism. That is why Bush has been unable to explain why we fought this war. You're absolutely right about the enemy within." ~ Laurie Mylroie Tue, 15 Jul 2003 12:52:30 -0400

*

Was Saudi Arabia the Real Target in Iraq? http://billhobbs.com/ October 4, 2004

Yesterday's Boston Herald had a fascinating article about a new book that suggests that President Bush and his foreign policy team decided to go to war with Iraq in order to motivate Saudi Arabia to truly crack down on al Qaeda. If the book is right, then Saddam's WMD obfuscation was a convenient excuse to invade Iraq - and Bush and his team are fighting a much smarter and more sophisticated War on Terror than anybody gives them credit for.

"The Bush administration has been represented as strategically stupid but adept at political manipulation. The opposite is true," said George Friedman, president of Stratfor, http://www.stratfor.com/coms2/page_home a firm that delivers global strategic forecasting and open-source intelligence analysis to corporate clients.

Friedman's book, "America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between America and its Enemies," which goes on sale Tuesday, argues that midway through the war on terrorism, America has made major gains while al-Qaeda has failed in most of its goals and is on the defensive. Iraq, he argues, is a keystone of American strategy against al-Qaeda.

In the decision to invade Iraq, he argues, disarming a dangerous dictator and bringing democracy to the Middle East were secondary war goals. The factor that tipped the balance in internal Bush administration debates in mid-2002 was Saudi Arabia's recalcitrance in the war on al-Qaeda, he says.

America's invasion of Iraq put pressure on the Saudis that forced them to act against al-Qaeda sympathizers within Saudi Arabia in ways the Saudis had been unwilling to do, Friedman said.

In the past year, Friedman argues, it has worked. The Saudis, shaken by America's action, has engaged in a "civil war" against al-Qaeda, killing operatives, busting up cells and cracking down on the group's financial network.

"The problem is that the administration can't explain that this is blackmail on the Saudis. So it turns to WMD," Friedman said about the reasons given for the Iraq war."