Al-Qaeda's strategy for victory in Iraq is clear. It is trying to kill as many innocent people as possible in the hope of reigniting Shiite sectarian violence and terrorizing the Sunnis into submission.He makes a lot of sense in a very non-partisan way. I really hope he doesn't hop over to the Republican side, for two reasons: 1) his core values are liberal and 2) it would diminish his message. He can serve the best right where he is.
In other words, just as Petraeus and his troops are working to empower and unite Iraqi moderates by establishing basic security, al-Qaeda is trying to divide and conquer with spectacular acts of butchery.
That is why the suggestion that we can fight al-Qaeda but stay out of Iraq's "civil war" is specious, since the very crux of al-Qaeda's strategy in Iraq has been to try to provoke civil war.
Despite the speeches the vote is over and they got the timetables they wanted. It'll be vetoed, but this was about posturing more than anything, especially for the presidential candidates. Note to Mr. Obama, a signature will not end this war. If he believes that he has no business running. Even Hillary would not go that far. At least this week.
But I wanted to key on what Senator John Thune of South Dakota said in response to Reid's "we've lost" comment. He said, paraphrasing, "if we've lost, who won?" Indeed, whenever there's a loser there's a winner. That should be enough to bring ALL parties in America together to solve this thing in the best interests of our long term security and interests. You'd think.
MORE 4/26/07
O'Reilly had an interesting show tonight. He got ridiculously mad at Jane Hall for no apparent reason, then pretty much hinted his position on the Iraq war is now closer to Reid than to Bush. The takeaway for me was his interview with the former Iraqi Ambassador to the US discussing the troops-out vote today. He touched on all the anti-war talking points, most of which focus on our difficulties marshaling "a civil war" (which was started by Zarqawi to get us out) and declared it the wrong battlefield, etc.
The Ambassador gracefully reminded Bill--several times--that the main reason we're there is not to make nice with the Iraqi people but to protect American interests (and those of our allies) in the region. If it were the former I certainly wouldn't have supported it in 2003 or now. This is almost now entirely lost on the population as is the threat from AQ as we wade in a cesspool of politics.
Meanwhile, watching the MSNBC debate recap while typing this and was interested to see a few things pop up. First, Democratic strategist Mandy Grunwald was interviewed by Chris Mathews. No bombshells, it's just odd that the wife of Plame star Matt Cooper has now surfaced. Guess the coast is clear. Additionally, Andrea Mitchell, another Plame figure, called far-left candidate Mike Gravel a "bomb thrower" then called it "refreshing". Guess it just depends on who's throwing the bombs, huh? The Dems are focusing entirely on domestic issues, which is why they want to "end the war".
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