George W. Bush Took Bin Laden’s Bait

George W. Bush Took Bin Laden's Bait

The Republicans can't afford to talk about Iraq… so let's
talk about it, shall we?

The video above was taken one year ago. It's frightening. Today's video from
Iraq, if we had one, would be even worse. Unfortunately, there's only the valiant
Michael Ware from CNN, and Richard Engel from NBC, among a very few others (if
any), who can't really cover anything because it's become too dangerous. So
what does the corporate media do? They don't cover the Iraq war at all. So, no matter what you think about Chris Matthews, he's one of the people, besides today's Edward R. Murrow, Keith Olbermann, who dares to confront the chaos. As for
the Anbar province, Richard Engel says it's now called Jihadistan.

I can hardly wait to hear what Bob Woodward has to say on Sunday. Because if
2007 is going to be worse than 2006, boy are we in trouble.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are signing off on a border fence, while letting
their wealthy corporate paymasters get off clean. What these bozos don't realize
is that if there are jobs they will come. But let's face it. Homeland and national
security is a political tool for them. Government doesn't have a purpose in
people's lives, as far as Republicans are concerned. It's only something they
use around election time.

As for Iraq, Republicans have a simple plan that underlies stay the course.
We're sending our troops over there so they can take a bullet for you and me
over here. After all, why travel to the United States when you can kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq. It's like shooting heroes in a barrel? That Bush, he's just so smart. Never mind that it's costing us around $2 BILLION a week, because Bush never pays for his financial failings. This is the Republican plan for Iraq and
they're sticking to it, no matter how many soldiers have to die to carry it off. As Bush said recently, according to cable news reports, he doesn't care if only Laura and Barney believe in what he's doing, he's not changing course in Iraq.

But the leaked NIE judgments on terrorism still leaves me wondering what the
secret Iraq NIE says. But Republicans won't release it until after the election. It's
likely stamped “draft” so they don't have to. Clever. Craven, but
clever. Better to keep the truth from the people or there could be real trouble.

In fact, though, you don't need an NIE to demonstrate the most controversial judgment — that the war in Iraq has worsened the terrorist threat. The official coordinated evaluation by Britain's domestic security and foreign intelligence services noted that “the conflict in Iraq has exacerbated the threat from international terrorism and will continue to have an impact in the long term.” This conclusion is echoed by interior ministries, law enforcement agencies and intelligence services in every part of the world. Since the United States invaded Iraq, there has been a significant increase in the number of people committed to the jihadist cause. … Of Course Iraq Made It Worse

As for Iraq, there is one big reason we're in trouble. George W. Bush didn't
have the experience or the foresight to realize that Osama bin Laden was baiting
him, taunting him to invade and occupy another country in the Middle East. Bin
Laden had a plan that went far beyond 9/11 and included getting the United States
bogged down in a country just like what happened to the Soviets in Afghanistan.
He thought it might even be Afghanistan, but that worked out really well for bin
Laden because he slipped out right under the noses of the three stooges, Bush,
Rummy and Franks. But bin Laden never dreamed he'd get so lucky as to seduce
The Cowboy to taking on Iraq.

The two other categories of recruits are centered in Iraq itself. One consists of the foreign fighters, who, it turns out, are not the remnants of al-Qaeda that the administration believed would flock to their doom in Iraq. According to both Saudi and Israeli scholars who have studied the biographies of foreign fighters killed in Iraq, very few had prior experience of Islamic radicalism. They were drawn by their perception that the indignity of Iraqi occupation had to be fought. The final category is Iraqi jihadists. There were virtually none in Iraq before the invasion. Now Sunni insurgent organizations espousing jihadism are dominated by Iraqis, who number in the thousands. As the NIE judgments suggest, those groups, which have already carried out bombings in Jordan, are likely to look for more targets outside Iraq. The terrorists are increasing not only in numbers but also in lethality. … No doubt the United States would have had a serious struggle against radical Islam after Sept. 11 under any circumstances. But the occupation of Iraq, by appearing to confirm bin Laden's arguments about America's antipathy toward the Muslim world, has had an incendiary effect and made matters dramatically worse. (source)

Now, whether bin Laden is dead or alive, he's won the game against Bush and
the Republicans, but also America, under their “leadership”. Not only did he get them to invade Iraq and stay the course,
but bin Laden also scared the chickenhawks so badly, with nary a veteran among
them, they've now changed America into a shadow of her former self. Republicans
have made torture the law of this land. Screw the courts. This from the rule of law crowd who couldn't keep their eyes off of Clinton's crotch.

Terry Schiavo, Katrina and torture, that's today's Republican party.

Oh, and to top it off, Bush and the Republicans have grabbed defeat from the
jaws of victory in Afghanistan.

The Republicans and Bush haven't done much of anything else, oh, except one
thing. Handed over Iraq to religious fanatics and thugs, creating a boon for jihadists.

If bin Laden is dead, it's likely he died with a smile.