Giving the terrorists what they want

October 4, 2006

For months, one of the principal talking points about the war in Iraq from the Bush White House is the notion that we have to stay — because the terrorists want us to leave. On the stump, the president routinely quotes al Qaeda leaders, suggesting they’ll take over Iraq as soon as we’re gone. As the theory goes, if the United States gets out, we’ll be giving the terrorists exactly what they want.

Except, as Marc Lynch explained, just the opposite appears to be true. A letter was captured during the raid that killed Zarqawi, written by a member of al-Qaeda’s inner circle identified only as “Atiyah.” The letter explained:

The most important thing is that you continue in your jihad in Iraq, and that you be patient and forbearing, even in weakness, and even with fewer operations… Do not be hasty. The most important thing is that the jihad continues with steadfastness and firm rooting, and that it grows in terms of supporters, strength, clarity of justification, and visible proof each day. Indeed, prolonging the war is in our interest, with God’s permission. (emphasis added)

Lynch explained:

I’m not sure why this statement doesn’t seem to have made it into any of the press coverage of the letter which I’ve seen. It seems to be fairly unambiguous. What’s more, it was an internal communication, not a public proclamation aimed at influencing American policy. It also makes sense. Al-Qaeda wants American troops in Iraq, not an American withdrawal. It wants a protracted war which allows it to drain American blood and treasure while producing an endless stream of the images of jihadi heroism and American brutality on which its narrative thrives. Al-Qaeda knows it would have no chance of actually seizing power after an American withdrawal (the latest public opinion surveys show 94% of Iraqis opposed to them, and the Shia would fight them even more than they already are) and bloodshed without Americans would do nothing for their global strategy.

Why the press has generally ignored this remains a mystery. “Atiyah’s” letter appears to highlight, quite clearly, what many of us have assumed for several years: al Qaeda wants the war in Iraq to continue, and U.S. troop redeployment would be a setback for the terrorists’ plans.

Indeed, let’s not forget that Bush has been helping Osama bin Laden’s agenda for quite a while. Kevin Drum noted Ron Suskind conclusions in “The One Percent Doctrine,” which highlighted the CIA’s understanding that bin Laden wants to extend the war (for recruiting purposes) and he times public messages to help Bush politically, for fear that a Democrat might undermine al Qaeda’s gameplan. As Kevin added:

Iraq has been so mismanaged that almost anything we do now will be disastrous. But some things are more disastrous than others, and it’s well to keep in mind that al-Qaeda seems pretty certain that a continuing war there is in their best interests. Is it in ours?

The NIE says the war is making terrorism worse, while the terrorists themselves hope Bush sticks to the status quo. The Manchurian President strikes again.

This might help explain to Ed why his graph of Iraq misadventure deaths for “coalition” troops is such a linear sequence. It’s not an accident. If you keep the blood flow to a steady trickle, it never really gets to the point of shock and awe, and this of course, allows us to stay the course. They know very well what they are doing.

  • It also explains why bin Laden injected himself into the ’04 election. Helping to keep the stubborn, arrogant Bush admin in power, based on the objective of a prolonged war, must have been high on the al-Qaeda’s priority list.

  • Perhaps the time has come for all Americans to start referring to Herr Bush and his cronies as “jihadists-in-sheep’s clothing….”

    Basically, though—this is just another example of how Herr Bush need to have his covert henchman, Osama bin Laden, running free and unfettered. As al Quaeda needs its Herr Bush, so also does Bush need his al Quaeda. Each feeds upon, and gains power from, the other. And yet—they are the paramount tandem of parasites, and the world is their victim; slowly being sucked dry by incessant vitriol, bicameral hatred, and a Theofascism that seems extremely mutual in its never-ending thirst for power….

  • Pat Buchanan actually said on national TV that we had to stay in Iraq until the situtation was hopeless. Then we could leave. But not now, when it makes sense to say American lives and treasure. Nope, I suppose thousands more must die and tens of thousands be maimed in the name of Boy George II’s ego.

    Why we let the Terrorists formulate our policies I don’t get. But than I suppose that a six page memo on how to fight terrorism doesn’t qualify as a plan to Dr. Rice either. One wonders just how long the article describing the Containment Policy we used on the Soviets was and whether Rice would consider that a “plan”.

  • Now, don’t let the people who voted Bush back into office off the hook. They in fact did bin Laden’s bidding by voting him and his enablers back into power in 2004. They could have tried to right the ship but in their ignorance, intentional and unintentional, they ran it further into the iceburg.

  • Al Quaida’s NIE on Iraq reports that the war is making terrorism better.

    I think most leaders are standing on the tip of an iceberg with one of those fake steering wheels we provide for the kiddies and they’re steering like crazy and they’re pumping that horn, all while the bigger forces are taking them exactly where history and the masses is pushing them.

  • What’s interesting is why, for political purposes only I can guess, we want to take the worst path toward the inevitable.

    There is no way Iraq is going to coalesce into the type of country we want it to be, but why we have to let it reach its final partition in such a way that brings about the most collateral damage, I think is truly what is “reprehensible”. Perhaps that is what the 8 year old who “assualted” Cheney was getting at. We arent making a damn bit of difference toward achieving anything good there (democracy is a farse, reconstruction has been essentially abandoned) and as we only manage to bring about a slow motion partition/theocracy, we also do the bidding for every terrorist organization possible, by inflaming the hatred of every potential extremist Muslim on the planet.

    There has to be some consequence for this foolishness, beyond the condemnation that history will dole out after the transgressors of the madness are long dead.

  • Whoa! You are not going to take the word of a known terrorist are you? They are smart (and they lurk). This is nothing but disinformation planted to turn Americans against Bush and help their cause. Either that or Hillary Clinton planted it so we would find it.

    (repeat Lord of the Flies style)
    Stay the course!
    Kill the terrorists!
    Freedom is marching!

  • “…just the opposite appears to be true.”
    I don’t think I’d characterize it that way. I think the interests of al Qaeda are served either way — which is why going into Iraq as we did was so stupid in the first place. If we leave, they rejoice the victory of driving out the infidels and proving we are weak (as they did after we left Somalia). If we stay and the war drags on, we deplete our resources, diminish our standing in the world, provide them real-world training — I’ll spare you a longer list.
    I believe this is why Bushco has no plan, why the Dems don’t have much of a plan — Bush played into al Qaeda’s hands from the start.

  • As voters, we need to condemn Bush’s follies at the polls this November. We cannot expect to heal the world until we heal ourselves. The Republican party is sick. It needs rest and a good regimen of medical intervention. Let’s start by scheduling a vacation for the Republican party on November 7th. Vote the Rascals Out, so they can get some medical attention while they have more time on their hands. Maybe, over time, these fools of the Republican ilk can come back to a decent outlook in regard to life, the universe and everything. -Kevo

  • “The reason the letter is being ignored is that it was not obtained via torture.” – Dan B.

    Not true. Zarqawi definately suffered from the moment he was bombed to the moment he died. And not too short a period of time either 😉

    Yes, I smiled.

  • Bin Laden: Please do come and attack us and make it long, hard and steady. By weakening you over here we do not need to attack you over there. Please do provide our young men with endless opportunities of martyrdom and passage to heaven.

  • We cannot expect to heal the world until we heal ourselves — kevo (#11)

    Is the world asking you to heal it (with guns and bombs)?

    And I have another question apropos “terrorists” — Who, do you think, is the more terrifying :

    1) The occupying American army for the Iraqis

    or

    2) The Iraqis (6,000 miles away) for the Americans

    Your answer to that tells you who the real terrorists are, in the REAL world, as you would wish it.

  • First,

    This is nothing but disinformation planted to turn Americans against Bush and help their cause -MNProgressive

    Bush needs no help to turn intelligent and concerned Americans against him. Worse yet, he doesn’t care.

    You want disinformation? How about the self congratulatory reports about lower unemployment. It is a smoke screen to distract us from the fact the median income is dropping.

    But the topic of this post is Iraq. I believe everything in Iraq is going according to plan. Bush is using it both as testing ground for what we will tolerate and to build a stronger circle of might. I am frightened by the retirement of so many quality Generals who are being replaced by Bushites. I am frightened by Bush’s disregard of opinion both at home and abroad. I am frightened that most people disregard Bush on the basis of stupidity, when he isn’t. Bush is only stupid to those he feels the opion serves his purpose. Iraq is but a soft forshadowing of things to come, I just wish I knew what could be done to alter the outcome.

  • Dale: I think most leaders are standing on the tip of an iceberg with one of those fake steering wheels we provide for the kiddies and they’re steering like crazy and they’re pumping that horn…

    That’s a funny image.

  • Why the press has generally ignored this remains a mystery. — CB

    You’re being facetious, yes? Or you don’t read enough mysteries 🙂

    The letter didn’t surface (and won’t make much vaves even now), because it directly contradicts the Chimperor’s stock of talking points, especially the one about defeatocrats enabling the terrorists.

    In the meantime.. This delicious tidbit from today’s NYTimes, front page:

    “WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — Even as the Bush administration urges Americans to stay the course in Iraq, Republicans in Congress have put down a quiet marker in the apparent hope that V-I Day might be only months away.

    Tucked away in fine print in the military spending bill for this past year was a lump sum of $20 million to pay for a celebration in the nation’s capital “for commemoration of success” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Not surprisingly, the money was not spent.”

    The article goes on to say that the money will be rolled over to ’07.

    Every time… Every time I think this WH has reached the outermost edge of bizarre, they come up with something else to top the previous “totally unbelieveable” record. They don’t have enough money to equip the Army. They don’t have enough *Army* to spread around… But they’re holding 20mil in reserve for triumphant victory parades???

    Whatever next? We build an Arc de Triomphe on the outskirts of DC? So that the Chimperor can drive under it, in an armored Humvee, dragging Saddam by the neck behind the vehicle?

    I can hardly wait for the fall of *this* “Roman Empire”…

    Oh, and kevo? They’re not “rascals”; they’re just plain “scoundrels” — nothing cute or playful about them

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