The Dangers
of Bush and Al Qaeda
By Elias Harfouche
07/19/07 "Al-Hayat"
--- Those betting on a quick U.S. exit from Iraq and a
change in President Bush's Iran policy would do well to read
the recent report from the U.S. intelligence community -
reports that indicate a plan of using Iraq as a base of
operations from which to launch attacks against regional
threats to U.S. interests.
Six years after the attacks of September 11, U.S.
intelligence indicates that Al Qaeda is as much a threat now
as then, aided by the U.S. war on Iraq and the growth of
fanatic movements. It also indicates that the U.S. is losing
on several fronts against Al Qaeda - a group that has
clearly reconstituted and reorganized itself over the past
couple of years.
In addition to threats from Al Qaeda, the U.S. intelligence
report identifies a danger from the Lebanese party Hizbullah,
which has attacked U.S. targets in the past and is seen as
probably attacking again should its interests be threatened
or should its patron Iran be subjected to an American
attack.
The recent report shatters the claims of Bush and his
Administration that the war in Iraq has made America more
secure. For over the past few years, Bush has claimed that
two-thirds of Al Qaeda's commanders have been killed or
captured by U.S. forces, and that the war in Iraq has put
extremist factions on the defensive. Bush has based his war
on the claim that fighting terrorists abroad prevents them
from posing a danger at home. But the report - released by
the Bush administration itself - indicates that not only has
Bush's plan for Iraq failed to provide security and
democracy for the Iraqi people, but also that it has failed
to make Americans themselves any safer. No security exists
for either the Iraqis or the Americans. These are the
results of America's open-ended war in Iraq - now entering
its fifth year. The U.S. is now heaping criticism on
Pakistani ruler Pervez Musharaf for the respite he granted
Al Qaeda's leadership when he committed to a truce with
tribes on the Afghan-Pakistani border. This has not,
however, spared Bush from the criticism of his own country's
Congress and media and from accusation of incompetence in
and poor planning for a war that is becoming increasingly
difficult to justify.
In any other circumstances, with any other administration,
such a report would be a clear case for an American retreat
from Iraq and from foreign conflicts like that with Iran.
But this does not apply to the Bush administration, which
seeks to cover up previous failures by embarking on yet more
ill-fated adventures. And so the continuing security threat
emanating from the American blunder in Iraq has led the Bush
administration to oppose any call for an American withdrawal
from the country.
This U.S. approach also applies to Iran - a country the
report identifies as a threat due to its support for
Hizbullah and its perceived role in sabotaging political and
security developments in Iraq. The release of this report
coincides with U.S. media leaks surrounding the internal
debate within the Bush Administration over U.S. policy
towards Iran. This debate seems to be shifting in favour of
Vice President Dick Cheney, who is convinced that the
administration cannot leave the situation with Iran due to
his belief that no future administration - Republican or
Democrat - will be capable of facing the coming danger from
Iran.
The next few months in the Middle East will be critical, as
Syrian President Bashar Assad stated recently - months that
ought to be cause for concern for all of us, for President
Bush's toolbox of conflicts has not yet been put away.
© 2007 Media Communications Group
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