Bush Distorts Qaeda Links, Critics Assert

Source: NY Times

In rebuffing calls to bring troops home from Iraq, President Bush on Thursday employed a stark and ominous defense. “The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq,” he said, “were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th, and that’s why what happens in Iraq matters to the security here at home.”

It is an argument Mr. Bush has been making with heavy frequency in the past few months, as the challenges to the continuation of the war have grown. On Thursday alone, he referred at least 30 times to Al Qaeda or its presence in Iraq.

But his references to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and his assertions that it is the same group that attacked the United States in 2001, have greatly oversimplified the nature of the insurgency in Iraq and its relationship with the Qaeda leadership.

There is no question that the group is one of the most dangerous in Iraq. But Mr. Bush’s critics argue that he has overstated the Qaeda connection in an attempt to exploit the same kinds of post-Sept. 11 emotions that helped him win support for the invasion in the first place.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/world/middleeast/13qaeda.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

there wasn't much Al Q in Iraq before he invaded.

And constant mentions of Iran, Iran....... getting ready to screw the pooch......again.

Didn't they all die when the airplane crashed...

This is why he can't be stopped no matter what his poll numbers say...

The body of the article says "critics argue" and of Bush "his assertions." That's true. The critics are making arguments. Bush is just spouting assertions.

Source: nytimes



Bush Distorts Qaeda Links, Critics Assert


By MICHAEL R. GORDON and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: July 13, 2007

BAGHDAD, July 12 — In rebuffing calls to bring troops home from Iraq, President Bush on Thursday employed a stark and ominous defense. “The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq,” he said, “were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th, and that’s why what happens in Iraq matters to the security here at home.”

It is an argument Mr. Bush has been making with frequency in the past few months, as the challenges to the continuation of the war have grown. On Thursday alone, he referred at least 30 times to Al Qaeda or its presence in Iraq.

But his references to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and his assertions that it is the same group that attacked the United States in 2001, have greatly oversimplified the nature of the insurgency in Iraq and its relationship with the Qaeda leadership.

There is no question that the group is one of the most dangerous in Iraq. But Mr. Bush’s critics argue that he has overstated the Qaeda connection in an attempt to exploit the same kinds of post-Sept. 11 emotions that helped him win support for the invasion in the first place.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/world/middleeast/13qaeda.html?th&emc=th

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Nice to see this.

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........The American military and American intelligence agencies characterize Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as a ruthless, mostly foreign-led group that is responsible for a disproportionately large share of the suicide car bomb attacks that have stoked sectarian violence. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior American commander in Iraq, said in an interview that he considered the group to be “the principal short-term threat to Iraq.”

But while American intelligence agencies have pointed to links between leaders of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and the top leadership of the broader Qaeda group, the militant group is in many respects an Iraqi phenomenon. They believe the membership of the group is overwhelmingly Iraqi. Its financing is derived largely indigenously from kidnappings and other criminal activities. And many of its most ardent foes are close at home, namely the Shiite militias and the Iranians who are deemed to support them.

“The president wants to play on Al Qaeda because he thinks Americans understand the threat Al Qaeda poses,” said Bruce Riedel, an expert at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy and a former C.I.A. official. “But I don’t think he demonstrates that fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq precludes Al Qaeda from attacking America here tomorrow. Al Qaeda, both in Iraq and globally, thrives on the American occupation.”

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who became the leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, came to Iraq in 2002 when Saddam Hussein was still in power, but there is no evidence that Mr. Hussein’s government provided support for Mr. Zarqawi and his followers. Mr. Zarqawi did have support from senior Qaeda leaders, American intelligence agencies believe, and his organization grew in the chaos of post-Hussein Iraq.

that Al Qaeda wasn't present in Iraq before he started his oil grab. He opened up the doors to every terrorist group known to man by removing Saddam and his henchmen who, before that time, had successfully kept them out of Iraq. I'm not saying life in Iraq was good during Saddam's reign of terror, but it's certainly a lot worse now that he's opened the country's borders to terrorists-R-us and removed the power structure that kept at least a semblance of order in Iraq.

"Bush distorts" reads the headline. :eyes: His entire existence has been a distortion. That stupid, spoiled brat doesn't have an honest bone in his body and the entire world is paying the price for that.

If anyone remembers, Bush "asserted" that Al Qaeda was a major presence in Iraq, being aided and abetted and sheltered by the Hussein government, as part of his original rationale for invasion.

But CNN news reports as recently as yesterday stated that Al Qaeda's major presence and staging ground was and is still a mountainous area along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Where the Taliban are also reportedly re-grouping; so much for the long-term efficacy of THAT invasion.

I'm not a military strategist. But if we're pressed to stay in the region for counter-terrorism purposes, I don't think my primary objective would be fighting another failing guerrilla war in the streets of Iraq, much less, threatening invasion of Iran. I'd be leveling those mountains.