'Bush made himself al-Qaeda’s poster boy'

Our good friend McPherson Hall at Minnesota Central has sent us this note:

SUGGESTED VOX VERAX READING: Robert Parry writes about the Iraq Progress Report and the U.S. intelligence report,... concluding: "Bush triumph over his Iraq War critics in Congress could well represent an even bigger victory for al-Qaeda." The article begins:

Misreading Iraq, Again

By Robert Parry
July 13, 2007

George W. Bush and his neoconservative supporters are hailing some signs of cooperation between Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders and U.S. forces in rooting out al-Qaeda extremists in Anbar Province as proof that Bush’s military occupation of Iraq is finally working and should not be ended by Congress.

“Finally,” wrote neoconservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer on July 13, “after four terribly long years, we know what works.” He, like Bush, cited the Anbar example as reason to reject growing public and congressional demands for a prompt U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.

But the Anbar evidence could be read almost exactly the opposite way: that it is the growing belief among Sunnis that the American occupation is nearing its end that has caused some of them to view the U.S. military as a lesser evil and position themselves for what they perceive as the next phase of the conflict.

Anticipating a U.S. departure, these Sunnis are now more concerned about defending Sunni territory against the Shiite-dominated government army as well as eradicating al-Qaeda extremists whose indiscriminate killings have offended Iraqis of all stripes.

The article is here.