Calling a Spade a Club
"There's a good reason they're called al-Qaeda in Iraq, because they are al-Qaeda in Iraq,"
Hmm. That certainly may be the case right now Shrub, but don't you think you're missing the larger picture here? Have you paused to ask yourself why they are called al-Qaeda in Iraq? After all, the choice of name was really always up to them.
It is now known with as much certainty as one can have in matters of international espionage that there was no al-Qaeda presence in Iraq prior to the United States' invasion. And with good reason: Saddam Hussein saw them as a threat to his absolute power in the country. Additionally, Hussein would never have wanted the sort of Theocracy that al-Qaeda was promoting.
So we move in and remove the only source of stability (evil though it may have been) in a sharply ethnically divided area. In the subsequent power vacuum, naturally many different forces were going to try to seize power. Equally naturally, those forces would resent the external powers that were trying to keep them from seizing power. When you have a very small group of people trying to exert control over a larger and much more powerful group, intimidation and fear are going to the best weapons you have. So you identify with a group that the larger group fears. Voila, al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Of course, this would all be moot if we hadn't done two things in the wake of 9/11. First, declaring "war" on terrorism. Second, identifying al-Qaeda as the sole source of that terror. Doing so legitimized al-Qaeda, and gave anyone wanting to fight the United States for any reason a ready-made brand name that would instantly resonate among Americans. We gave them their best weapon!
So Shrub, the point we're trying to make right now isn't the same as "watching a man walk into a bank with a mask and a gun and saying, 'He's probably just there to cash a cheque.'" It's more like walking into a bank where 5 men with guns and masks are all being held at bay by another man with a gun and a mask, saying "well, since he's got the gun pointed at the rest of them he must be the real criminal," arresting him, and then wondering why the bank was still robbed.
Hmm. That certainly may be the case right now Shrub, but don't you think you're missing the larger picture here? Have you paused to ask yourself why they are called al-Qaeda in Iraq? After all, the choice of name was really always up to them.
It is now known with as much certainty as one can have in matters of international espionage that there was no al-Qaeda presence in Iraq prior to the United States' invasion. And with good reason: Saddam Hussein saw them as a threat to his absolute power in the country. Additionally, Hussein would never have wanted the sort of Theocracy that al-Qaeda was promoting.
So we move in and remove the only source of stability (evil though it may have been) in a sharply ethnically divided area. In the subsequent power vacuum, naturally many different forces were going to try to seize power. Equally naturally, those forces would resent the external powers that were trying to keep them from seizing power. When you have a very small group of people trying to exert control over a larger and much more powerful group, intimidation and fear are going to the best weapons you have. So you identify with a group that the larger group fears. Voila, al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Of course, this would all be moot if we hadn't done two things in the wake of 9/11. First, declaring "war" on terrorism. Second, identifying al-Qaeda as the sole source of that terror. Doing so legitimized al-Qaeda, and gave anyone wanting to fight the United States for any reason a ready-made brand name that would instantly resonate among Americans. We gave them their best weapon!
So Shrub, the point we're trying to make right now isn't the same as "watching a man walk into a bank with a mask and a gun and saying, 'He's probably just there to cash a cheque.'" It's more like walking into a bank where 5 men with guns and masks are all being held at bay by another man with a gun and a mask, saying "well, since he's got the gun pointed at the rest of them he must be the real criminal," arresting him, and then wondering why the bank was still robbed.
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