Posted on 08/20/2003 11:06:23 AM PDT by Gothmog
First, the pertinent excerpt:
ABC News' Raddatz reporting, "Last month, President Bush said the United States had the security situation under control, and enough forces to fight.
"'There are some who feel like the conditions are such that they can attack us there,' the president said on July 2. 'My answer is "Bring 'em on." We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation.' But officials may now have to look at adding troops to the nearly 150,000 already there." (ABC News, Raddatz, 8/18/03)
Here's the rest of the article:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/World/unbombing030819.html
New Fears U.N. Bombing Raises Concern in Iraq: Are Separate Factions Joining Forces?
By Martha Raddatz
Aug. 19— The devastating bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad comes less than two weeks after a deadly attack on the Jordanian Embassy in Iraq. Investigators are working to determine who may be responsible for this violence, and what U.S. forces can do to stop them.
Today's truck bombing was the kind of attack that U.S. intelligence officials feared was coming — bigger, bolder, aiming for mass casualties. The list of suspects is long.
"It's a complex mix of loyalists to Saddam; of Islamists who are Iraqi; of foreign volunteers; of Islamists with ties to al Qaeda," said ABCNEWS analyst Tony Cordesman, who holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Al Qaeda sympathizers are suspected in the Aug. 7 bombing of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, which left 11 people dead. Militant Syrians, Saudis and Iranians are also thought to be infiltrating the country, seeking to destabilize Iraq and drive out the Americans.
"I am certain that there are lots of different players and they are not necessarily totally united," said retired Maj. Gen. Bill Nash, former commander of the Army's 1st Armored Division and now a consultant to ABCNEWS. "But they are united in their opposition to the United States."
The administration is hoping today's bombing will rally international support. But those who carried out the attack are certainly betting that it will scare the international community away.
Trying to Understand the Pattern
Today's bombing fits into a frightening pattern of escalating violence.
"We need to understand the pattern here," said Cordesman. "It has been building up, but it has been a mixture of violent acts of terrorism, of economic sabotage, a focused looting on critical facilities, oil export facilities, attacks on U.S. soldiers and the soldiers of other countries, attacks on friendly Iraqis, intimidation and threats. All of these measures have been brought together; it's not just one pattern."
The United States has aggressively gone after the opposition, as illustrated by today's arrest of former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, No. 20 in the deck of cards depicting the 55 most-wanted members of the former regime.
But many fear that even if Saddam Hussein is captured, the violence will not end.
"We also know that even though we talk about this decks of cards, [55] top people, there are literally tens and thousands of people in this structure," said Cordesman.
More Troops Needed?
Last month, President Bush said the United States had the security situation under control, and enough forces to fight.
"There are some who feel like the conditions are such that they can attack us there," the president said on July 2. "My answer is 'Bring 'em on.' We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation." But officials may now have to look at adding troops to the nearly 150,000 already there.
"We need to seriously consider the additional forces coming from the United States initially, but I think we also need to make the point that today's attack was an attack on the international community," said Nash.
"This was the headquarters of the United Nations, the very agency that is intended to make a better life for the Iraqi people, unquestioned by all", he said. "Therefore, I think we need to make the case to our allies and the international community at large that they are in the fight now, too."
Thus far, the United States has had little success in getting any significant number of troops from countries besides Britain to join the fight. The administration is hoping today's bombing will rally international support. But those who carried out the attack are certainly betting that it will scare the international community away.
President Bush is no more responsible for this act than he was the DC snipers, the anthrax mailings, the Tampa teen kamekazi pilot, the LAX shooting, etc.
Some attacks have been thwarted; most the Iraqi Most wanted 55 have been captured or located dead. The natering naybobs of negativity are beating their drum. They still haven't said that X42 was responsible for a number of high profile attacks by Al Qaeda (which generated no response from the preceding administration).
She looks like James Carville.
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