Al Qaeda in Iraq: small & unpopular except in Bush propaganda

[yurbud]

John McCain demonstrated a Bush level of stupidity when he chastised Obama about supposedly not knowing there is "al Qaeda in Iraq."

There is such a thing, but McCain (and a lot of Democrats for that matter) forget to include some important details.

• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/09/AR2006040900890_pf.html">The military admits they inflated al Qaeda and Zarqawi's role in the insurgency for propaganda purposes in both Iraq and the US.
  
  
• Israelis and Saudis separately studied our interrogations of foreign fighters captured in Iraq and found that http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/09/AR2006040900890_pf.html">most had no prior connection to al Qaeda and were motivated by our invasion, not religious fundamentalism.
  
  
• http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fairenough/latimesA98.html">Our friends the Saudis send more foreign fighters to Iraq than any other country,and half of those guys are suicide bombers. You know, the guys who blow up markets, cars, and mosques?
  
  
• http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brmiddleeastnafricara/248.php?nid=&id=&pnt=248&lb=brme">The Iraqis don't like al Qaeda. The Bushies use this to make the leap to say that they don't like all the insurgency. The reality is Iraqis recognize al Qaeda is responsible for attacks on civilians and are trying to inflame sectarian violence, and sectarian violence is one of our excuses for staying.

To the extent Iraqis themselves are fighting us, there are a couple of reasons:

• http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jam-lrcdXuQLtrYRSz43-tYNO7fQ">We broke stuff when we invaded and didn't fix it.
  
  
• http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,121041,00.html">Unemployment is as high or higher in Iraq than it was in the US during the Great Depression. That was considered such a crisis here in the 1930s, that people wondered whether we would lurch toward communism or a fascist dictatorship.
  
  
• We ruled by decree initially and still exercise veto power over who the Iraqis pick as leaders and the actions they take. Some leaders from the Iraqi oil workers union were touring the US last year, and they were still mad about all the decrees of Bush-appointed colonial governor Paul Bremer, especially the ones forcing privatization of public assets.
  
  When the Iraqi government shows signs of independence, Bush pulls on their choke chain HARD. http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/03/29/us_said_to_oppose_new_term_for_jaafari/">Bush told them to fire their first elected prime minister Jafari, the guy who wanted to meet Noam Chomsky, and he wasn't.
  
  The current prime minister, Maliki has said http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2007/03/iraqi-prime-minister-bush-will-fire-me.html">Bush will FIRE him if he doesn't get the Hydrocarbon Law passed.
  
  
• One of the biggest reasons Iraqis aren't happy we are there is the least discussed: that http://www.bushagenda.net/article.php?id=369">Hydrocarbon Law Bush is trying to force down the throats of Iraqis gives 88% of the income from Iraqis oil to big oil companies, a deal countries like Saudi, Kuwait, or Iran would never take without a gun to their head. If we wanted to make friends there, we'd let them pass a law that no Iraqi could possibly disapprove of. The Iraqis would be happy, we'd have access to that oil, but the oil companies would have slightly lower profits. That tells you how important the Iraqis or even we are to the folks in DC.
  

The bottom line is http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/23/wirq23.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/10/23/ixportaltop.html">as little as 1% of Iraqis feel safer because we are there and http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2007/08/poll-iraqis-want-us-out-of-iraq.html">overwhelming majorities want us to leave.

How are we teaching them democracy by ignoring that?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Thanks for all the information

I figured most folks in Iraq think that the US must go, and it has nothing to do with al Qaeda, which is mostly a US created bogeyman anyway.

[TwilightGardener]

2. "AQ in Iraq" has been overblown--they have a presence, but the

Iraqi people don't like them, and it's unlikely that they are closely tied, or operating under the orders of, the REAL AQ. These aren't the people who are going to "follow us home"--these are local troublemakers.

[TexasObserver]

3. When the US leaves Iraq, the Iraqis will kill off AQI in about one week.

It will be bloody and complete, too.

[Brotherjohn]

4. That's the crux of the matter: Not only was Al Qaeda not IN Iraq until we invaded...

... but "Al Qaeda in Iraq" is just a bunch of opportunists who've claimed the name for their own purposes... not to mention Bush's. It lends credence to the causes of both.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq" is not the Al Qaeda that attacked us on 9-11, nor does being there make them any more capable of planning and carrying out such an attack than if they were sitting in their living rooms in Saudi Arabia (box cutters, Sen. McCain, remember?). "Al Qaeda in Iraq" have probably never met Osama Bin Laden, and certainly do not amount to a "base" from which to plan attacks on the U.S. Oh, perhaps a base from which to plan attacks on our troops in Iraq.

Does Mr. McCain realize (newsflash!) that we've lost far more American citizens to this was than we lost on 9-11, and counting? Does his vast foreign policy expertise tell him that, contrary to "handing over Iraq to Al Qaeda", the U.S. leaving Iraq would more likely completely take the wind out of their sails? It would immediately remove any incentive, and in fact any ability, to easily attack and kill Americans... something they now do on a daily basis.

[Brotherjohn]

5. Then the more pessimistic side of me says we gave Iraq to Al Qaeda...

... the day we invaded.

We certainly gave them recruiting fodder for years to come (something Obama and many many others, before the war even started, warned would happen).

[yurbud]

7. Iraqis don't like al Qaeda

[Brotherjohn]

8. I agree, and the optimistic (and realistic) side of me tells me as soon as we leave...

... AQ in Iraq will be wiped out; possibly even simply cease to exist, for lack of purpose.

[yurbud]

10. it exists to the degree that it does currently solely as an excuse for us to stay.

they are coming from Saudi. If the Saudis don't have a business partner who benefits from the chaos, they have no reason to send them.

[BuyingThyme]

9. Thank you.

[KLee]

6. Yurbud, thank you for posting this.

I think it's reprehensible what we have done to the Iraqi people. I am ashamed of this presidency, and to think that he got two terms OMG this nightmare can't end to soon.

[yurbud]

11. you're welcome. I hope the democrats will do the right thing even though they aren't talking about

it.

[malik flavors]

12. Great Post. I wish Obama had been debating McCain over this stuff...

so he could have made him look foolish. And, on the subject of foreign policy of all things.

[yurbud]

13. it was almost like Obama set a trap for him and McCain walked into it--a nice change of pace for

Democrats.

[yurbud]

14. may I shamelessly request a fifth vote?

[yurbud]

15. thank you, fifth and sixth.