I admire much of what Molly writes but
The real villains, both Al Qaeda and the Taliban, are now regrouping in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, while we're stuck in the quicksand in Iraq.
workingforchange.com
while accurate, misses the mark. After being chased out of Afghanistan, OBLwas perceived as just another loser, and Al Qaeda was on life support. With the Iraqi invasion, all has changed. Seen now as a prophet who foretold America's plan to invade and dominate Arab lands, OBL is venerated as never before.
Moreover, Iraq has become a new base of operations. Al Qaeda's main threat was always as an umbrella organization with a global perspective. Deprived of the training facilities in Taliban Afghanistan, Iraq is now serving as a on-the-job training ground. As the neo-cons pointed out, Iraq lies in the heart of the ME. This is now working in Al Qaeda’s favor, for it can meet and form alliances with other groups far more easily than in remote Afghanistan.
Whether Chechnyan, Libyan, Arabian, Yemeni, Syrian, Moroccan, Iranian, Algerian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Sudanese, Afghani, Pakistani or Lebanese, all come to Iraq. There are even reports of jihadis from Bangladesh. It’s a new Hadji - meeting, forming alliances and training. The results of this activity will be enduring. Over a decade passed after Al Qaeda et al expelled the Russians from Afghanistan, before 9-11 occurred. Expect our country to still be “paying the bill” for the neo-con Iraqi folly well into the 2020s.
JMO
lurqer |
