Bush Blames al Qaeda for Violence in Iraq

George Bush (pictured above showing his response when the country was really under attack from al Qaeda) continues to blame everybody else for his failed policy in Iraq. Today he blames al Qaeda for the deterioration of Iraq into a Civil War (although he also denies this reality).

The major cause of terrorism in Iraq is not al Qaeda but Iraqi opposition to the invasion. While the war has helped al Qaeda by increasing their recruitment, studies from both the Saudis and Israeli’s “have found that the vast majority of these foreign fighters are not former terrorists and became radicalized by the war itself.”

To the degree that al Qaeda is to blame, it is the war which has accelerated the problem. A recent National Intelligence Estimate found that “the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.” This was followed by a UN report which “said the Iraq war provided al Qaeda with a training centre and recruits, reinforcing a U.S. intelligence study blaming the conflict for a surge in Islamic extremism.”

A recent Downing Street Memo revealed that even the British are “accepting the argument that Britain’s military action in Iraq and Afghanistan has served as a recruiting sergeant for Islamist terrorist groups.”

2 Comments

  1. 1
    Probus says:

    This is such a great photo. If a dem president had done this, dems would have been angry about it and they would have wanted to know why he didn’t act when he clearly should have. But the repugs just rewarded him with another term. I was glad to see NBC News make the decision to use the phrase ‘civil war’ in their broadcasts. We’ve been in a civil war for a while now, and the violence is only getting worse. On top of that Bush is refusing to withdraw troops and is refusing to talk to Iran and Syria as the Iraq Study Group is suggesting.

    As Sen. Kerry says, the Al Qaeda presence in Iraq is small. Most of the insurgents are Iraqis. There are a few foreign fighters but the bulk of the violence is carried out by local Shiias and Sunnis. Our presence there is making it worse. All these reports suggest that the Iraq foreign policy has failed. Bush said he would change course but he is hasn’t. He will probably end up sending more troops. Removing Rumsfeld has changed nothing. The Iraq war is now the Vietnam war. The longer we stay the more we will continue to lose more troops.

    As the Baker ISG is not expected to push for troop withdrawals dems should now start to push for it. They shouldn’t wait for this group to release its findings. We voted for change and the dems should continue to push for troop withdrawal and release their own plan for how we can reduce the violence via strong diplomacy.

  2. 2
    Christopher says:

    What a moron. W.orst P.resident E.ver.

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