I am increasingly troubled by the seeming universal acceptance of the term 'Al-Qaeda' by the US media and US politicians to define a certain segment of Sunni Iraqi opposition to the US occupation of Iraq.
The term is inaccurate and misleading because it suggests that 'Al-Qaeda' in Iraq is composed of and led by foreigners, which it is not, and that the group shares Bin Laden's goal of a global jihad against the West and US, which it does not. The group calling itself 'Al-Qaeda in Iraq' is composed of Sunni Iraqis and they use the term 'Al-Qaeda' for fundraising and recruiting purposes. They are not owned and controlled by Bin Laden and do not take orders from him.
Even more troubling to me is how the term 'Al-Qaeda' is being used to justify the 'military progress' with respect to the 'surge'. The only thing that has happened in the Al-Anbar and Diyala provinces is that the US has temporarily bought the allegiance of one group of Sunni Iraqis to fight another group of Sunni Iraqis. In other words, we are in the process of exacerbating if not instigating a civil war within a civil war. How long do you think it will take before that Sunni v. Sunni violence blows up in our faces?
When politicians, including some Democrats, talk about the surge making 'progress' against Al-Qaeda, all they are really talking about is reducing the incidence of certain types of terrorist attacks in a narrow geographic area over a short period of time. They are not talking about political reconciliation of the Sunnis to the US occupation, a reconciliation among ethnic groups, an overall reduction in violence, or the emergence of a civil society.
Furthermore, the metric used to measure 'progress' is a moving target, During the first 2 months of the surge, the Administration focused on how things were better in Baghdad but worse in the outlying areas. Now, the Administration focuses on conditions in the outlying Sunni provinces, but completely ignores how much worse things have become in Baghdad, in the Shiite South and in the North.
I feel that Americans are being set up for yet another sales job in September, one which the Democrats, fearful of appearing to criticize the military, will buy into: that the surge is 'making progress' against selected targets. The reality is that Iraq continues to disintegrate, and that the surge has made the situation worse by dividing Sunnis while making no impact on the Shiite government in Baghdad and in the Shiite controlled areas of southern Iraq.
That's right: The surge has made things worse! Since the surge began the Shiite areas have imploded, the Iraqi government has basically lost what little political legitimacy it had, even among the Shiites who elected it, and the stage has been set for a civil war among Sunnis, adding yet another layer to the anarchy that is Iraq.
Democrats have to stop buying into the rhetoric of the Administration and the Media and have to take the lead on educating the Media on what is exactly going on. I believe that many Democrats, including Senators Kerry, Feingold and Reid have done an excellent job of this, but more needs to be done to counter the GOP's PR initiative and to keep the Democratic message consistent.