Anbar belongs to al-Qaeda. That is the
sobering assessment of the Marines' chief of intelligence:
Devlin reports that there are no functioning Iraqi government institutions in Anbar, leaving a vacuum that has been filled by the insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq, which has become the province's most significant political force, said the Army officer, who has read the report. Another person familiar with the report said it describes Anbar as beyond repair; a third said it concludes that the United States has lost in Anbar.
Emphasis mine.
And now, as we know, Senate Intelligence Committee has confirmed what we already knew -- that Iraq and al-Qaeda not only weren't friendly, but despised each other.
So why aren't these two dots being connected by every Democrat in the country?
More over the flip.
It's very simple, it's a winning strategy, and it's the plain, simple truth: al-Qaeda, which was
not a significant force in Iraq before the war, and which could
not use its resources against us then, can do so now. Saddam, as vile and odious as he was, was not a threat to the United States. Al-Qaeda is. And thank whatever gods you worship that the Busheviks were so completely wrong about WMDs in Iraq, because if they had been there, al-Qaeda would have them now.
What al-Qaeda has done is disturbing enough. They've become a real political force in a physically huge swath of Iraq. They now have a base of operations from which to further weaken our military (in case Cheney's performance hasn't done it enough harm). And they have an entire disgruntled population base to recruit agents from.
The notion that "we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here" has always been beyond idiotic; it's as if the guys who pulled off 9/11 were nevertheless incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. It is now, however, entirely counter to the truth. Fighting them over there is now making it easier for them to attack us here. Al-Qaeda has gained credibility, resources and manpower thanks to our asinine invasion of a nation that was at least marginally opposed to them. This, among other things, makes Cheney & co. liars for about the millionth time.
These aren't hard, wonky dots to follow. We go from A, al-Qaeda was an enemy of Hussein's Iraq, to B, we invaded Iraq and overthrew Hussein, to C, al-Qaeda now controls nearly a third of Iraq.
I want to hear Howard Dean connecting these dots. I want to hear Harry Reid sticking the rubber-stamp Republicans with this mess. I want to hear Nancy Pelosi telling voters that a Democratic House is their best chance at holding the Bush administration to account. I want every Democratic candidate from Ned Lamont to the dogcatcher in Podunk, Kansas saying Bush's war is making al-Qaeda stronger and why.
This isn't a tough one, folks. Less than sixty days to daylight. Why aren't we hearing this from the Dems?
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(/) Roland X
Fleeing the Chenon tyranny, the last Battleblog, Galactikos, leads a rag-tag fugitive web, on a lonely quest; a shining concept, known as Truth.