So whether Bush and team did it knowingly or not, they created a bait and switch type situation. They took a very provacative action by attacking Iraq. This became a magnet for Jihadis all over the world, who since then have flocked to Iraq to take part in the turkey shoot.
That has give us 3 years to build up our homeland security posture. So when they start making a concerted effort to attack us at home again (and I believe there are efforts underway all the time), we will be better prepared.
Had we done nothing and focused all our efforts on our homeland, I bet we would have already been struck again.
Now having said that, you are right, there are more terrorists today, than before this war started. So all Bush did was buy time. The long term strategy MUST include an exit strategy pronto and a move to a smarter more collaborative war.
As far as your argument that the Iraqi insurgency is attracting jihadists from all over the world, there is no evidence to support that theory. That was Rummie's claim early on but he's back off from it now. See the article below by the Christian Monitor.
As for giving us time, we would have had all the time with or without Iraq. It takes al Qa'ida several years to get every thing together for such an attack. Nonetheless, we are not prepared for what's coming down.
Violence begets violence. Hate begets hate. There is nothing Bush is doing that's right. Its the actions of a provincial who believes war is the only way to go.
I wish I knew of a way to convince you. Bush must be stopped and it looks like the support of moderate Republicans may be critical to pulling it off.
<font color=brown>"Beginning last fall and culminating in the winter with Mr. Hussein's capture, the insurgency's composition shifted from what the Pentagon calls "former regime loyalists" to Iraqis motivated by nationalism and Islam, as clerics increasingly stepped into the local power void, experts say. In Sunni areas, disgruntled, jobless Iraqi military and intelligence personnel used their expertise in weaponry and explosives to bolster the proficiency of insurgents.
Their ranks have swollen with young men from Sunni Arab tribes that felt both disenfranchised and angered by harsh US military tactics in the Sunni Triangle. Meanwhile, an influx of small numbers of foreign terrorists and Sunni extremists willing to carry out suicide attacks served as a "force multiplier" for the insurgency.
"Sunni tribesmen ... have become the principal popular support for most of the Sunni Arab and foreign insurgents," says Kenneth Pollack, a Middle East specialist at the Brookings Institution. Like other experts, Mr. Pollack stresses the existence of a popular base of support that is sustaining Iraqi insurgents. "We should always remember Mao Zedong's parable of the sea and the fish; the people are the sea and the guerrilla is the fish, and as long as the sea is hospitable to the fish, you will never catch them all."
At the same time, Shiite clerics asserting their influence after the fall of the regime steadily built up their militia and support networks. In Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City, for example, the anti-US cleric Moqtada al Sadr moved into former Baath Party neighborhood offices and systematically recruited poor, unemployed youth with offers of money and welfare for their families.
Today, military sources say Sadr's Mahdi Army has 7,000 to 10,000 men. Iran has agents in Najaf and Karbala who are providing arms and training to various Shiite militia, the sources say."
csmonitor.com |
