What Was The Mission, Again?

Bush: No Retreat From Iraq

Two days before a major anti-war demonstration, President Bush said Thursday that withdrawing American forces from Iraq would make the world more dangerous and allow terrorists "to claim an historic victory over the United States."

Mr. Bush said terrorists have been emboldened over the years by the hesitant U.S. response to numerous events: a hostage crisis with Iran in the Carter administration, the bombing of U.S. Marines barracks in Lebanon during the Reagan administration, the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center during the Clinton administration, and others.

"The terrorists concluded we lacked the courage and character to defend ourselves," the president said." The only way the terrorists can win is if we lose our nerve and abandon the mission.

"For the safety and security of the American people, that's not going to happen on my watch," he said.

I guess none of his aides have the guts to explain to Bush that the terrorists have already won in Iraq: there's much more terrorist activity in Iraq now than when Saddam was in power. And what mission would the U.S. be abandoning? Ridding Iraq of WMDs? There were none to begin with. Removing Saddam from power? Mission accomplished. Completely eliminating the influence of Baathism? Dream on.

It's difficult to see what mission can be completed by remaining in Iraq, unless the mission is simply "remaining in Iraq", which, as the anti-war people feared since the pre-emptive strike drums started beating in the White House, it seems more and more likely to be.

Report: Foreign Fighters Constitute No More Than 10% Of Insurgency

Iraq invasion radicalized Saudi fighters: report

RIYADH (Reuters) - Hundreds of Saudi fighters who joined the insurgency in Iraq showed few signs of militancy before the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein, according to a detailed study based on Saudi intelligence reports.

The study by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), obtained by Reuters on Sunday, also said Saudis made up just 350 of the 3,000-strong foreign insurgents in Iraq -- fewer than many officials have assumed.

Analysts and government officials in the U.S. and Iraq have overstated the size of the foreign element in the Iraqi insurgency, especially that of the Saudi contingent," it said.

Non-Iraqi militants made up less than 10 percent of the insurgents' ranks -- perhaps even half that -- the study said.

Most were motivated by "revulsion at the idea of an Arab land being occupied by a non-Arab country."

So, to further underscore the utter senselessness of Bush's little Iraq project, it now appears that 90% of those the U.S./Coalition are shooting at, bombing, capturing, and otherwise fighting are Iraqis — in other words, those we went to Iraq to "save" from the brutal dictatorial hand of Saddam Hussein.

Before the White House complains further about the failure of Iraq's neighbour states to prevent those sympathetic with the Iraqi resistance from crossing the border, it would do well to a) see to it that the border is actually guarded from within; and b) read the bit about most of the foreign fighters being motivated by the non-Arab occupation of Iraq. (Translation: they would have no interest in crossing the border if the U.S. and allies were not there murdering oops, saving Iraqis to begin with.)

ROBERT SCHEER: ‘On-your-own’ politics has tattered safety net

‘On-your-own’ politics has tattered safety net


By ROBERT SCHEER, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Published: Thursday, Sep. 8, 2005

What the world has witnessed this past week is an image of poverty and social disarray that tears away the affluent mask of the United States.

Instead of the much-celebrated American can-do machine that promises to bring freedom and prosperity to less fortunate people abroad, we have seen a callous official incompetence that puts even Third World rulers to shame.

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