Robert Parry : Misreading Iraq, Again

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/8706

Misreading Iraq, Again
by Robert Parry | Jul 14 2007


George W. Bush and his neoconservative supporters are hailing some signs of cooperation between Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders and U.S. forces in rooting out al-Qaeda extremists in Anbar Province as proof that Bush’s military occupation of Iraq is finally working and should not be ended by Congress.

“Finally,” wrote neoconservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer on July 13, “after four terribly long years, we know what works.” He, like Bush, cited the Anbar example as reason to reject growing public and congressional demands for a prompt U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.

But the Anbar evidence could be read almost exactly the opposite way: that it is the growing belief among Sunnis that the American occupation is nearing its end that has caused some of them to view the U.S. military as a lesser evil and position themselves for what they perceive as the next phase of the conflict.

snip//

Besides his failure to cut off bin Laden’s escape routes from Tora Bora in December 2001, Bush opened the door to al-Qaeda’s recovery by shifting the focus of the U.S. military away from al-Qaeda’s bases near the Pakistani-Afghan border to Iraq.

Then, by invading Iraq in March 2003, Bush made himself al-Qaeda’s poster boy for rallying a new generation of angry Muslims to the banner of Islamic extremism. And, over the past four-plus years, Bush has made the bloody U.S. occupation of Iraq a gift to al-Qaeda that keeps on giving.

In short, another Bush triumph over his Iraq War critics in Congress could well represent an even bigger victory for al-Qaeda.
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