Wednesday, March 29, 2006
But...but...but...
Comments:
As bad as this makes the "no terrorism exists in iraq" crowd, it does make Bush look pretty bad. He should have played the Zarqawi card a lot harder in the run-up even attacking Zarqawi's operations early. Then he could have smirked when the iraqis complained and said "any more secret baby food factories run by benign immigrants from afghanistan we should know about?" It would have been awesome.
# posted by 
: 3:17 PM
: 3:17 PM
I don't know how compelling "playing the Zarqawi card" would have been. Most Americans would have said, "who the hell is Zarqawi?"
It is completely baffling though that they wouldn't pull the trigger. How exactly would that undercut the case for war with Saddam? Not to mention that we were regularly bombing Iraq during the run-up to war, anyway, as part of the Northern Watch / Southern Watch operations. If we'd taken a little side trip to hit Zarqawi, that wouldn't even have made the papers.
It is completely baffling though that they wouldn't pull the trigger. How exactly would that undercut the case for war with Saddam? Not to mention that we were regularly bombing Iraq during the run-up to war, anyway, as part of the Northern Watch / Southern Watch operations. If we'd taken a little side trip to hit Zarqawi, that wouldn't even have made the papers.
# posted by : 3:45 PM
: 3:45 PM
Bush could have announced the bombing of numerous terror training camps in Iraq. If he wanted it in the papers, it would have gotten in the papers. Filtered, yes, but it'd be there.
# posted by : 3:16 PM
: 3:16 PM
I get the jab at the "no terrorist in Iraq crowd", but I then have to ask that if there really were terrorist in Iraq that were sponsored by Saddam and his black ninja pajama group...then what more proof does one need. One does not need to go the UN. One does not dump a years worth of home spun propoganda..uh...PR...on the American people. One only has to get on national TV and say that the order to strike at various al-Qeda training camps was given and that it is an extension of the GWoT.
No one would have cared who Zarqawi was. All the American people would have said in the wake of combat operations in Afghanistan is that another al-Qeda location had been attacked and destroyed.
I won't go off on what reading that makes me feel about the ol' Bush Administration, but I will say that something doesn't really add up. We would not be having this debate about WMD or Terrorism in Iraq if they had initiated combat operations at that time. The fact that they did not engage known terrorist, but instead focused on dethrowning Saddam speaks volumes.
cl
No one would have cared who Zarqawi was. All the American people would have said in the wake of combat operations in Afghanistan is that another al-Qeda location had been attacked and destroyed.
I won't go off on what reading that makes me feel about the ol' Bush Administration, but I will say that something doesn't really add up. We would not be having this debate about WMD or Terrorism in Iraq if they had initiated combat operations at that time. The fact that they did not engage known terrorist, but instead focused on dethrowning Saddam speaks volumes.
cl
# posted by : 3:32 PM
: 3:32 PM
Well, in this particular case, you could not argue that this Al Qaeda facility was sponsored by Saddam Hussein, because the facility was not in territory that his regime controlled.
Now, the counterargument, of course, is that it doesn't matter whether Saddam controlled the turf, because in order to attack and permanently destroy the facility, and exploit whatever intel may lie therein, the U.S. would have to do it itself. There is nothing like the Saudi Arabian security services to act as a proxy, and the Peshmerga lacked the combat power.
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Now, the counterargument, of course, is that it doesn't matter whether Saddam controlled the turf, because in order to attack and permanently destroy the facility, and exploit whatever intel may lie therein, the U.S. would have to do it itself. There is nothing like the Saudi Arabian security services to act as a proxy, and the Peshmerga lacked the combat power.
