Every word a lie

Spencer Ackerman
ThinkProgress

Ah, once again: the stakes in Iraq. From Bush’s speech at Fort Bragg yesterday:

Some of our fellow citizens wonder whether the mission in Iraq is worth the cost. I strongly believe it is. And here is why: The enemy has made clear that Iraq is the central battleground of the great ideological struggle of our time. This is a struggle between those who murder the innocent to advance their hateful objectives and those of us who love liberty and long for peace. We saw that these enemies — what these enemies intend for our country on September the 11th, 2001 — and we must do everything in our power to stop the enemy from attacking us again.

Withdrawal from Iraq before we have achieved success would embolden al Qaeda and give them new safe havens from which to plot attacks on the American homeland. Withdrawal before success would embolden Iran in its nuclear weapons ambitions and its efforts to dominate the region. Withdrawal before success would send a signal to terrorists and extremists across the world that America is weak, and does not have the stomach for a long fight. Withdrawal before success would be catastrophic for our country. It would more likely — be more likely that we would suffer another attack like the one we experienced on September the 11th. It would jeopardize the safety of future generations. And we must not, and we will not, allow that to happen. (Applause.)

Every word of this is a lie. The U.S. military’s own intelligence collection in Iraq recognizes that Al Qaeda is a miniscule fraction of the insurgencies and that what foreign fighters are in Iraq are there because our occupation has radicalized them. Gen. Petraeus, like the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus, said yesterday that the next attacks “on the American homeland” will come not from Iraq, but from Pakistan, where the actual Al Qaeda senior leadership remains unmolested. Note as well the hollowness of Bush’s terms. Terrorists will be “emboldened” by withdrawal? They’re terrorists — that’s plenty bold, sir. What’s worse then their “emboldening” is us providing them with the targets they want in the places they want, like Iraq.

But worst of all is Bush’s line that “the enemy has made clear that Iraq is the central battleground of the great ideological struggle of our time.” You know who used to speak like that? KGB director Yuri Andropov, a true believer in the Brezhnev Doctrine. It led him right into Afghanistan. Notice that there’s no more Soviet Union.