Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
Promoting Human Rights in IrelandHuman Rights in Ireland >>
?Muhammad? Tops Baby Name Charts Again Thu Jul 31, 2025 13:00 | Richard Eldred Muhammad is once again the most popular baby name for boys in England and Wales, in a year marked by a growing trend towards global, cross-cultural naming.
The post ?Muhammad? Tops Baby Name Charts Again appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
White House Warns Starmer: Stop Threatening US Tech Companies? Free Speech Thu Jul 31, 2025 11:00 | Toby Young It looks increasingly likely that the sweeping censorship powers granted to Ofcom by the Online Safety Act will be raised in US-UK trade talks, as the Trump administration becomes increasingly concerned.
The post White House Warns Starmer: Stop Threatening US Tech Companies? Free Speech appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Mainstream Naysayers Gather As Hopes Rise for Fourth Year of Record Coral on the Great Barrier Reef Thu Jul 31, 2025 09:00 | Chris Morrison Despite three record years of coral growth, the mainstream media keeps pushing doom and gloom on the Great Barrier Reef ? a story that doesn't quite add up, says the Daily Sceptic's Environment Editor.
The post Mainstream Naysayers Gather As Hopes Rise for Fourth Year of Record Coral on the Great Barrier Reef appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Unless Migrant Crime Is Happening to Them Personally, Many Brits Simply Refuse to Believe It Even Ex... Thu Jul 31, 2025 07:00 | Steven Tucker Britain's migrant crimewave is only invisible to those living in leafy delusion ? just ask Steven Tucker, who rips into the blind elites mistaking burning mattresses for cultural enrichment.
The post Unless Migrant Crime Is Happening to Them Personally, Many Brits Simply Refuse to Believe It Even Exists ? Especially Our Blinkered Rulers appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Thu Jul 31, 2025 00:51 | Richard Eldred A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en
Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en
The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
Petraeus has no chance of defeating Al-Qaeda in Iraq and no hope of making America safer
international |
anti-war / imperialism |
opinion/analysis
Monday September 24, 2007 11:26 by Coilín ÓhAiseadha aatchoo at gmail dot com Cill Mhaighneann

US forces in Iraq are providing Al-Qaeda with ideal terrain to train to overthrow Al-Saud
In his column in the Irish Times, the Washington Post's opinionator Charles Krauthammer has said that General Petraeus can defeat Al-Qaeda in Iraq. I disagree!
Far from defeating Al-Qaeda, the US occupation provides Islamist fighters with ideal terrain on which to recruit and train to overthrow Mr Bush’s friends in the house of Al-Saud, and does nothing to prevent Al-Qaeda cells elsewhere from planning attacks elsewhere.
Krauthammer’s comments bear no resemblance to the realities of fighting Al-Qaeda, and every resemblance to a propagandum formulated by the White House to justify a military strategy whose chances of success are next to nil. Krauthammer tells us nothing about Iraq, and everything about Washington.
Whte House staff are sure to go on vigorously propagating this implausible "We can defeat Al-Qaeda in Iraq" message in the media in coming months. My counter-analysis provides a copyright-free debunker for reuse as needs arise. Charles Krauthammer displays boundless – nay, groundless! – optimism when he suggests that US General Petraeus can defeat Al-Qaeda in Iraq. ("Petraeus now likely to achieve defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq", Irish Times, 17 September 2007 - See excerpt and link below.)
The fact that Al-Qaeda is operating in Iraq at all is a counterproduct of the US-led invasion and occupation.
The secularist Ba’ath Party absolutely excluded extremists pursuing Islamist ideologies, and so the only group pursuing an ultra-orthodox interpretation of Islam in Iraq up to March 2003 was Ansar al-Islam, based in Kurdistan, well beyond the reach of Baghdad’s forces.
The invasion itself created conditions under which Al-Qaeda could establish a foothold close to Baghdad, and recent events in Anbar show that the entire might of the occupation forces cannot prevent Al-Qaeda from staging spectacular strikes against its enemies:
In the course of this year, a tribal leader named Sheikh Abdul Sittar Bezea al-Rishawi led a campaign to drive Al-Qaeda out of Anbar.
During a brief stopover at a US Air Force base in Iraq on September 3, President Bush acknowledged Sittar’s achievements: “When you stand on the ground here in Anbar and hear from the people who live here, you can see what the future of Iraq can look like,” and he afterwards shook hands with Sittar.
General Petraeus repeated this upbeat message during testimony to Congress on the anniversary of 9/11 last week, describing Sittar’s achievement as a “model of what happens when local leaders and citizens start to defy al-Qa’eda …”
Two days later, Sittar was killed by a roadside bomb – apparently assassinated by Al-Qaeda.
So this is the US model for the future of Iraq? I beg your pardon!
Far from defeating Al-Qaeda, the US occupation provides Islamist fighters with ideal terrain on which to recruit and train to overthrow Mr Bush’s friends in the house of Al-Saud, and does nothing to prevent Al-Qaeda cells elsewhere from planning new bombings in other parts of the world.
Petraeus knows this. When he appeared before the Senate armed services committee last week, Republican Senator John Warner asked him about his strategy: "Does that make America safer?"
Petraeus replied: “Sir, I don't know, actually. …”
So: Krauthammer’s comments bear no resemblance to the realities of defeating Al-Qaeda in Iraq or anywhere else in the world, and every resemblance to a propagandum formulated by staff at the White House to justify a military strategy whose chances of success are next to nil.
As usual, Krauthammer tells us nothing about Iraq, and everything about Washington.
---
Please feel free to use any or all of the analysis above in letters to the editors in response to any commentator who suggests that the occupation forces play a useful role in fighting Al-Qaeda.
Coilín.
---
Here is the relevant excerpt from Krauthammer's column in the Irish Times, followed by links to the full article in the IT and Washington Post:
****
Petraeus now likely to achieve defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq
Charles Krauthammer
...
In the shorter term, however, there is a realistic chance of achieving a separate success that, within the context of Iraq, is of a second order but in the global context is of the highest order - the defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Having poisoned one country and been expelled from it (Afghanistan), al-Qaeda seized upon post-Saddam instability to establish itself in the very heart of the Arab Middle East - Sunni Iraq. Yet now, in front of all the world, Iraq's Sunnis are, to use the biblical phrase, vomiting out al-Qaeda. This is a defeat and humiliation in the extreme - an Arab Muslim population rejecting al-Qaeda so violently that it allies itself in battle with the infidel, the foreigner, the occupier.
Just carrying this battle to its successful conclusion - independent of its larger effect of helping stabilise Iraq - is justification enough for the surge. The turning of Sunni Iraq against al-Qaeda is a signal event in the war on terror.
Charles Krauthammer's e-mail address is letters@charleskrauthammer.com.
(c) 2007, The Washington Post Writers Group.
© 2007 The Irish Times
****
See the full article in the Irish Times:
Petraeus now likely to achieve defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2007/0917/118907....html
And in the Washington Post:
A 'Realistic Chance' of Success
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, September 14, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20....html
Click on "View all comments" at the bottom to see what WP readers think.
|