"America has taken a nation that was not a terrorist state and turned in into one." -- Jessica Stern, author of "Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill."
DETROIT -- The occupation of Iraq is a mess and the murder and mayhem will only get worse.
The Bush administration always exaggerated and sometimes fabricated connections between Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. We were told repeatedly that the United States had to act before Saddam could fully develop his nuclear weapons program and share that nasty arsenal with even crazier Islamic fighters ready to unleash unthinkable terror on our nation.
We now know the first part of that claim -- an Iraqi nuclear weapons program -- was a fabrication shamelessly used by President Bush and his gang of war-mongers to frighten Congress and the American people into believing pre-emptive war was our only choice.
However, the second part of the claim -- a wave of Iraqi-inspired terror was brewing -- has become a reality and the war made that possible.
Far better for Islamist extremists than the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, which became the career builder for bin Laden, the U.S.-led invasion has transformed Iraq into a new arena for terrorists and galvanized these hate-filled fanatics to head there and make Westerners bleed.
Even before the war, many counterterrorism experts feared the invasion would serve as a recruitment tool for al-Qaeda and other groups. Now, with U.S. forces entrenched in an Arab, Muslim country, the terrorists are enjoying the advantage of fighting on familiar home turf. There are cultural and language differences between the people and the forces occupying Iraq, and growing resentment over a foreign presence scheduled for an indefinite stay.
The arrogant, doctrinaire, post-Saddam assumptions of George W. Bush and his neocon nation-builders are so self-evidently flawed that any reasonable person, including those who supported the war, must conclude the planning and policies developed for the creation of a "democratic" Iraq are catastrophically wrong.
It is a mess.
Retired Gen. Barry McCafferey, noting our stretched armed forces, with major commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq, says our military must be reinforced. He proposes, quite reasonably, that all National Guard units be activated for one year to help fill in the gaps.
That move would require tremendous political courage. All those who think George W. Bush would do that, especially in an election year, please raise your hands. The few naive souls who raised their hands can put them down. You're wrong. That ain't never gonna happen, as they'd say down on the ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Increasingly, the occupying forces are vulnerable to planned attacks.
Retired Col. David H. Hackworth, an ardent supporter of the war and one of the most decorated soldiers ever, says Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made serious blunders when he sent troops into Iraq, "light, on the cheap."
In an interview with the online magazine "Salon," Hackworth says Field Marshall Rumsfeld and his deputy and designer of chaos, Paul Wolfowitz, "made a very horrible estimate of the situation. They concluded the war would be a Slam Bam Goodbye Saddam, followed by a victory parade with local Iraqi folks throwing flowers and rice and everything nice, then the troops would come back home."
Even prior to last weeks' bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Hackworth had a sense of just how ugly combat situations were becoming and how terrorists and guerrillas have gained an edge.
"There is no way the G (guerrilla) is going to win, he knows that, but his objective is to make us bleed, to nickel-and-dime us. This is Phase I. But what he is always looking for is the big hit -- a Beirut (car-bomb attack) with 242 casualties, something that gets the headlines! The Americans have heir head up their asses all the time. All the advantages are with the G; he will be watching. He is like an audience in a darkened theater and the U.S. troops are the actors on a stage all lit up so the G can see everything on the stage when they are asleep or when his weapon is dirty. The actor can't see shit in the audience."
President Bush must drop the Lone Ranger approach and stop bullying every other nation into accepting U.S. domination of all military and political decisions about Iraq as their only choice. Coupled with a truly independent governing council in Iraq, the United States should move with all dispatch to turn over the country to an international coalition headed by the UN.
That move could assure troop support from the Russians, Germans, French and others that have significant land armies, logistical advantages and important interests in the region. Troops from Muslim nations like Turkey and Pakistan could then participate and ease some of the religious tensions.
Rumsfeld often blames the violence on Baath remnants in Iraq, vestiges of Saddam's old crowd, the few remaining "dead-enders." That element does exist, but a frightening new source of terror is playing a bloody role in Iraq and moving in freely with unprotected borders.
The Financial Times reports, "Increasing numbers of Saudi Arabian Islamists are crossing the border into Iraq, in preparation for a jihad, or holy war, against U.S. and U.K. forces, security and Islamist sources have warned."
Jessica Stern, the author of "Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill," wrote an ominous op-ed column in The New York Times, in which she describes the influx of Saudi fanatics into Iraq and how al-Qaeda is using the invasion for recruitment.
Stern says the young recruits see television images of American troops and tanks in Baghdad and are deeply humiliated. She spoke to a Saudi dissident leader in London.
"He told me that some 3,000 young Saudis have entered Iraq in recent months, and called the war 'a gift to Osama bin Laden.'"
Anyone who believes the Saudi regime wants to see democracy blossoming next door in Iraq is beyond a fool. In a penetrating report in the conservative "National Review," Alex Alexiev of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., describes the consequences for not taking on the Saudis.
"The unwillingness of Washington to face up to the incontrovertible evidence that our Saudi friends are the chief financial and ideological enablers of Islamic extremism and terrorism will sooner or later hamper our ability to pursue the war on terror. In fact, there is good reason to believe that it already has, both abroad and domestically."
Alexiev, while too polite to mention the Bush family affection for the congenitally treacherous members of the House of Saud, does note the policy and political fallout.
"Continued coddling of the Saudis by the administration will have serious consequences for our counterterrorism campaign, and quite possibly, for the political prospects of President Bush as well. At some point, sooner or later, America must decide whether protecting the House of Saud is more important than winning the war on terror."
George W. Bush has decided and he's terribly wrong. He also has decided to keep the United Nations out of a significant role in Iraq. That too is wrong.
The mess in Iraq has George W. Bush's name written all over it.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | August 26 2003 |