Iraq and Al Qaeda...Conflation and Fabrication

We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them. - George W. Bush, 9/11/2001

Such were Chimpy's words on 9/11, 5 years ago. This doctrine led us to the invasion of Iraq which, given information contained in the Senate Intelligence Committee's Phase II Report, did not qualify for inclusion under this doctrine.

The report indicates that Chimpy and Co attacked Iraq, a nation haveing no operational ties to Al Qaeda, but was ulimately hostile towards Al Qaeda.

Detainee informationfrom high-ranking al-Qa'ida officials and associates suggests there was intense debate within the al Qa'ida leadership in Afghanistan over the risks and benefits of working with Baghdad, and that bin Laden was generally opposed to collaboration. - Phase II Report, pg 65 (emphasis mine)

According to Tariq Aziz, "Saddam only expressed negative sentiments about bin Laden." Aziz told the FBI that "when the Taliban was in power, the Iraq governemnt deliberately avoided opening an embassy in Kabul." Aziz underscored Saddam's distrust of Islamic extremists like bin Laden, stating that when the Iraqi regime started to see evidence that Wahabists had come to Iraq, "The Iraqi regime issued a decree aggressively outlawing Wahabism in Iraq and threatening offenders with execution." - Phase II Report, pg 67

Postwar findings indicate that Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al-Qa’ida and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, refusing all requests from al Qa’ida to provide material or operational support. Debriefings of key leaders of the former Iraqi regime indicate that Saddam distrusted Islamic radicals in general, and al Qa’ida in particular… Debriefings also indicate that Saddam issued a general order that Iraq should not deal with al Qa’ida. No postwar information suggests that the Iraqi regime attempted to facilitate a relationship with bin Ladin. - Phase II Report, pg 105

As for the Administration claims, lately reinforced by Condi Rice and Dick Cheney, regarding ties between Saddam Hussein and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, they have been shown to be equally false.

Postwar information indicates that Saddam Hussein attempted, unsuccessfully, to locate and capture al-Zarqawi and that the regime did not have a relationship with, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi. - Phase II Report, pg 109

Prior to the US invasion of Iraq, al-Zarqawi was not member of Al Qaeda, but rather, he and his organization, Ansar al Islam, were part of a loose affiliation with Al Qaeda. And at the time of his death he was becoming a thorn in the side of al Qaeda because of his maverick actions which often interfered with the goals of Al Qaeda leadership.

Conflation and fabrication have been the hallmark of the Bush administration since before the invasion of Iraq. Now that the tide of public sentiment has turned against Bush administration policy in Iraq, they are employing these tools with greater ferocity than ever. They see their grip on power, and the fear they have used to maintain it, slipping and their desperation is obvious. Their speeches over the last week, including including Chimpy's last night, is merely the same old turd they've been trying to polish since the invasion of Iraq. Conflate...Fabricate...Belittle their critics as unAmerican or unpatriotic. Some things never chage, even when they need to.

A step back...

In the 1960's, riots rocked American cities as African-Americans sought the civil rights they had long been denied. As Watts, Detroit, Newark, and after Martin Luther King's assassination, more than 60 other US cities burned as a result of race riots, we stopped and asked a very important question. "Why are they so angry?"

Now this may be seen as justifying actions which were completely out of line and resulted in further suffering and anguish for all involved. The fact is that the participants in these riots did go beyond the pale, but we stopped and asked "Why?" so it wouldn't happen again. As a result, America began to come to grips with its past of slavery and oppression of the descendants of those slaves freed after the Civil War. Landmark civil rights legislation was passed, and much progress has been made. We have had the occaisional setback showing that more has yet to be made. All because we never stopped asking "Why are they so angry?"

Now, let us look to the aftermath of 9/11. In the days of shock following the horror of that tragic day, we asked "Why are they so angry? Why do they hate us so much?" But the voices asking that question fell silent in a few short weeks. We no longer ask these questions to find a way to prevent such a tragedy as 9/11 from occurring again, and it will happen unless we find meaningful answers to them and act upon those answers. Instead, these questions have become nothing more than the rhetorical devices of demagogues to instill fear into our hearts and serve the ends of those same demagogic figures who utter them. They fear to seek the real answers as it will reveal 60 or more years of US and Western policies designed to keep the oil flowing from Middle-Eastern oil fields, regardless of the means used to do so...Regardless of the human toll. From propping up corrupt and repressive regimes to overthrowing legitimately elected regimes and replacing them with corrupt and oppressive puppets. It is only coincidental that these nations are Islamic.

Unwilling to truthfully and honestly find and face the answers to "Why are they so angry?", and "Why do they hate us so?", the Bush administration has only fanned the flames of hatred towards America and the West with its policies. They have helped radicalize a whole new generation of Islamic extremists, still chafing from the yoke of 19th and 20th century colonialism. With its reckless, feckless behavior in the aftermath of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, the Bush Administration has squandered the goodwill of the rest of the world towards America on that grim day and given the radicals hiding behind the cloak of their religion all the more reason to hate us. All becaus they were unwilling to seek the answers to two supremely important questions..."Why are they so angry?"..."Why do they hate us so much?".

I shudder to think of the America we would be living in today if we had stopped asking those questions in the 1960's.