Blumner: Judgment of Bush presidency will only grow harsher (Salt Lake Trib))

[struggle4progress]

By Robyn Blumner
The St. Petersburg Times
Updated: 01/16/2009 11:22:51 PM MST

... Bush claims that his greatest achievement as president was in keeping our nation safe from another terrorist attack. But Bush leaves office having allowed his Iraq folly to distract him from the al-Qaida threat.

Since 9/11, terror attacks in Britain and Spain, and American deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hand of al-Qaida, demonstrate that the group remained viable throughout his presidency. Bush's invasion of Iraq gave al-Qaida an opportunity to infiltrate that country -- where it had not been before -- attracting angry Muslim men to its cause from around the world.

Then, by putting the Iraq war on a credit card and diverting troops and materiel from Afghanistan, Bush created an intractable mess. Barack Obama will have to address a resurgent al-Qaida and Taliban in Afghanistan and now Pakistan with a broken American military and a multitrillion-dollar bill for the Iraq war that will eventually come due.

All of which makes us less safe ...

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_11474565

[Old and In the Way]

1. 90% of US deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are by nationalists.

We are kidding ourselves if we think there is a cohesive Al-Qarda force that we can defeat in the Mid-East.

[struggle4progress]

2. Everything I know suggests you're right. Unfortunately, mainstream political

discussion usually circles in the orbits defined by the political establishment -- and the political establishment has for years described the Iraqi opposition as "al-Qaeda." It's disappointing (though not surprising) that the corporate media typically discusses issues only in terms accepted by the so-called "mainstream" -- but it's also a fact that one must take into account when attempting to force the establishment to change course