Friday, April 04, 2008

By the way...

The same man our US Joint Forces Command said conspired with Saddam Hussein recently appeared on screen to answer questions posed in a previous Q&A session, essentially reiterating al Qaeda's long-standing mission statement with regards to the Middle East:
I expect – by the grace of Allah – the spreading of the Jihadi tide and an increase in its influence corresponding to the receding of the influence of the Crusaders, Jews and their agents in the places I mentioned.
We are currently in the process of selecting a presidential candidate on the Democrat side, one of whom is running on a promise of doing exactly what Zawahiri seems to want:
Commences a phased redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq not later than May 1, 2007, with the goal that all combat brigades redeploy from Iraq by March 31, 2008, a date consistent with the expectation of the Iraq Study Group. This redeployment will be both substantial and gradual, and will be planned and implemented by military commanders. Makes clear that Congress believes troops should be redeployed to the United States; to Afghanistan; and to other points in the region. A residual U.S. presence may remain in Iraq for force protection, training of Iraqi security forces, and pursuit of international terrorists.
Oops, that was from the "Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007" introduced by Obama before the surge. Not much different from today aside from the dates and the relative success of the surge.

Michael Scheuer might argue that Zawahiri is trying to bait America into the trap of an extended Soviet style quagmire that would lead to our eventual demise. Z did say it takes time to bring down an empire. But what's the alternative? Leaving him to his stated desires, which can only occur if we leave behind a destabilized region.

Ironically, this story just happened to hit the news today regarding Obama's Iraq adviser, who advised him to keep upwards of 80,000 troops in Iraq through 2010. In light of all the above doesn't it seem prudent to at least pose a few questions to the candidate BEFORE the voting is over?

No comments: