Fresh Eyes
I am suffering from election hangover after staying up all night watching results. Now, we have the President’s announcement of Rumsfeld’s resignation. According to President Bush, the new Defense Secretary, Bob Gates, will provide “fresh eyes.”
During the President’s question and answer session with reporters, we see that those fresh eyes do not belong to President Bush. He continues to claim that leaving Iraq will provide a safe haven for al Qaeda. Comprehensive intelligence assessments and intercepted communications by al Qaeda leaders refute the claim. Staying in Iraq provides a recruiting and training ground for al Qaeda. Withdrawal would most likely cause a collapse of al Qaeda in Iraq.
The election showed a high degree of frustration with the Iraq occupation. President Bush is stuck with the occupation. I wonder if any politician in Washington wants to be associated with it two years from now when things will be worse should we stay.
Civil wars do not end quickly, and the result is seldom pretty. The question that we should ask is whether the United States is fueling the civil war by its presence. I would say yes.
It will be interesting whether the new Congress received the basic message from the election. It appears the President did not, yet that was to be expected.
posted by Lynn @ 1:04 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Withdrawal would most likely cause a collapse of al Qaeda in Iraq.
I doubt it. An Al-Qaeda victory celebration would be more likely than 'collapse'...
Sonia -
I am willing to be convinced. However the military and intelligence agencies, the very people prosecuting the Iraq conflict, have concluded that the Iraq conflict has strengthened al-Qaeda by creating a ground for the recruiting and training of terrorists. Middle East experts across all ideologies agree. Intercepted communications from al-Qaeda leaders show that they see the continued presence of US forces in Iraq as a key to increasing their ranks.
If there is an analysis that shows al-Qaeda taking over Iraq should the US leave, I would like to see it. The conventional wisdom coming from every where, including al-Qaeda, is that the al-Qaeda organization in Irag will wither, or be expelled my Shiite militias should the US leave. In fact, Sunni militias have an uneasy alliance with foreign fighters.
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