Posted on 09/27/2006 2:49:00 AM PDT by The Raven
On a day when much of the capital's attention was focused on leaked excerpts of an intelligence estimate report that suggested the Iraq war was creating more jihadists, the military quietly released an intercepted letter from Al Qaeda complaining that the terrorist organization was losing ground in Iraq.
The letter, found in the headquarters of Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, after he was killed on June 7, was sent to Zarqawi by a senior Al Qaeda leader who signs his name simply "Atiyah." He complains that Al Qaeda is weak both in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and in Iraq.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Speaking of Al Qaeda in Iraq....last night on CNN Anderson Cooper's 360, he was speaking with his Baghdad reporter (don't remember his name) who said the following...and I quote, "The great thing about Al Qaeda is that it is an idea which inspires..."
Yes, that's right. An American (and I use that term loosely) journalist (that one too) just said "the great thing about Al Qaeda." You could see by the look on his face as the words came out of his mouth that he knew he had just made an "oops."
Now that's what I call "fair and balanced." Unbelievable.
There is NO OTHER PATH TO FOLLOW! dims HAVE NOTHING BUT DEFEAT AND SURRENDER IN THEIR TRICK BAG! Kill them all in Iraq!
LLS
That word- "traitors"- should not be used by W or anyone official unless he Justice Dept. is going to prosecute. And it should.
Excellent Comment - This needs to be repeated again and again
mark.
The Democrats are trying to lose this war just like they did with Vietnam, with equally disastrous results. Their cowardice is disgusting.
Good work!
"I truly think they will all lose their minds before they ever are a majority again."
I think they all HAVE lost their minds, and I pray God they NEVER become a majority again.
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
The Greeks understood this.
Fox & Friends were talking about this a while ago. Thanks for posting the link.
bttt
bump for later
If our intel guys haven't infiltrated al Queda five years after 9-11, they're not doing their job. I'm willing to bet we have a mole or two or ten hanging out in caves in Afghanistan and/or Pakistan.
I this regard I can't recommend “The Looming Tower” highly enough as an aid to understanding the role of Al Qaeda a it's many associated groups. For example many in the US are still thinking in terms of "body counts" (the "Terrorst Magnet" theory). But Al Qaeda suffered many reverses and even abject defeats (Osama Bin Laden, for example, was particularly inept as a leader during actual military operations) and by claiming victory even in defeat and taking credit for the successful actions of others was able to create a powerful mystique which served it well both as a recruiting beacon and as a inspiration to other similar groups.
In this light, our position in Iraq appears particularly unfortunate.
Someday, we will leave.
And when we do the, Jihadists will take credit for our "expulsion", and many will believe them, further increasing their influence. (This is exactly what happened in Afghanistan - Al Qaeda played a very minor role in that conflict, but Al Qaeda successfully trafficked in inflated accounts of its importance in expelling the Russians for a decade thereafter.)
Meanwhile, we have 100,000 plus high-tech troops, at a cost of 30-50 billion dollars a year, fighting a shadowy enemy who is successfully attacking them with roadside bombs made for $10 or less from a salvaged artillery round. Under these conditions from the Jihadist prespective – and more important to many in the Islamic world - our victories are the result of the criminal application of massive fire power – the frustrated lashings out of a wounded giant – while any Jihadist success against our troops is a valiant act of resistance successfully undertaken again enormous odd.
And this - barring a political miracle in Iraq – in a war with no end in sight that will not be celebrated by Radical Islam as its victory, and perceived by almost everyone else as our loss.
So IMO it’s time facts: we may have undertaken the occupation of Iraq with the best of intentions, and perhaps given a different strategy – more men on the ground to maintain order, and a more realistic set of expectations as to how the internal politics would play out - we might have left Iraq - and ourselves - in a better position.
But as the situation has actually developed, whatever Al Qaeda’s role in Iraq at the end of our involvement in that sorry country, in the battle with “Islamic Terrorism” writ large we are almost certainly going to “lose” in Iraq.
I don't think that current leadership of either party can admit this, or formulate realistic plans to extract us from this mess - their reputations are on the line, and it's just to tempting to "kick the can down the road" and hope the next guy will take the blame.
But in the meantime, we can continue to educate ourselves about the history, aims, and strengths and weaknesses of the Radical Islamic movements that have turned to terrorism and how they relate to the broader course of Islamic thought (and I'll say it again "The Looming Tower" is a good place to start).
Because until we do - and demand better of out leaders - we cannot expect no better of them.
"we can expect no better of them."
Methinks the 'deal' Pakistan made with the Taliban was more a 'deal' with us. That is, sure, the Pakistanis won't militarily operate in that area, indeed, will totally withdraw. Withdraw so much that the allies may, ahem, accidentally cross the border chasing bad guys but the Pakistani government cannot confirm. In other words, I think we got a green light to go get 'em...
Absolutely. But geographically-challenged Americans can't grasp what should be obvious. Rewind to Turkey's refusal to accomodate the opening of a northern front in the Iraq invasion, restrictions imposed by the Saudis on bases there and the withdrawal of US troops from Saudi Arabia.
or how about (I swear, I am NOT making this up) George Bush is PERSONALY listening in on my acquaintance's phone calls (he "can hear the line click") because KKKarl Rove told the president that "music is of the devil" and anyone who has listened to a radio or bought a CD during the last six years will be sent to Gittmo or those Czech concentration camps...
That's how I see it, too.
Those believing Iraq has created more terrorists probably believe that ants, which appear in hordes after and ant hill is disturbed, just came out of nowhere.
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