The myth of Al Qaeda in Iraq?

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

WTF? This is mind-boggling.

Only a Myth?   [Stanley Kurtz]

The buzz on the left-blogosphere today is all about an article by Andrew Tilghman, an Iraq correspondent for Stars and Stripes newspaper in 2005 and 2006, entitled "The Myth of AQI." Tilghman argues that, like the missing WMD’s, the presence of the terrorist group known as "al–Qaeda in Iraq" (AQI) is largely a myth. That’s pretty interesting, given that the cover story of the Standard this week is an excellent piece by Frederick Kagan entitled, "Al Qaeda in Iraq: How to understand it. How to defeat it." I take on Tilghman here.

All right, I'll join in. If there is no AQI then who are the Sunni sheiks in Anbar helping us kill or drive out? If there is no AQI then who was running the little petty fiefdoms all over the place hacking heads off and enforcing sharia barbarity? Who cut off all those heads in the videos, who was scaring the bejeezus out of so many people they were afraid to point out the killers amongst them?

Either the Iraqis believe in ghosts, or there was and still is enough of an AQ presence there to deserve our srious attention. As Mr. Kurtz points out in his retort Tilghman decides every act of violence is either all sectarian or the work of AQ. This ignores the fact that many of the tribes now helping us whack tangos in the Sunni Triangle were de facto auxilliary forces or in fact allied directly with AQ. It is understandable that as members of the minority sect that had previously profited from the domination of the rest, they would fear any association with their invaders.

As the Sunni insurgency took form, AQ saw opportunity and began reinforcing with foreign jihadis. Somehow Mr. Tilghman forgets all the foreign terrorists, identified by their own papers we have sent to Allah. That was one of the major themes of the media, that we had created a magnet for jihadis. Well to some extent that is true, but now so many of the holy horrors have assumed room temperature that they are playing their rec league softball teams against the US Marines. And that is gonna leave a mark.

Tilghman also take reports that place responsibility for bombing attacks on AQI and determines that if the perpetrators are not card-carrying AQ members, then it is simply sectarian violence. Well the Shia militias tend to favor EPs against our troops and snatch and torture techniques against Sunni and others they oppose.  Does he think the bombings in Sunni neighborhoods are done by their own people to terroize themselves. AQI uses bombings as they are much more likely to gain them the publicity they crave and they don't care if they slaughter Sunni or Shia, all are lambs for the jihad slaughter.

The idea that US and Iraqi leadership have invented a powerful AQI to ensure support for their efforts flies in the face of so much evidence to the contrary, it is tough to figure out why he would write such an ill-founded piece. Not to be cynical, but I smell a book deal and the need to have a controversial topic.

Bush lied again, No WMD, No al Qaeda, no victory. I wonder if he moonlights speech-writing for Chucky Schumer.

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The myth of Al Qaeda in Iraq?

WTF? This is mind-boggling.

Only a Myth?   [Stanley Kurtz]

The buzz on the left-blogosphere today is all about an article by Andrew Tilghman, an Iraq correspondent for Stars and Stripes newspaper in 2005 and 2006, entitled "The Myth of AQI." Tilghman argues that, like the missing WMD’s, the presence of the terrorist group known as "al–Qaeda in Iraq" (AQI) is largely a myth. That’s pretty interesting, given that the cover story of the Standard this week is an excellent piece by Frederick Kagan entitled, "Al Qaeda in Iraq: How to understand it. How to defeat it." I take on Tilghman here.

All right, I'll join in. If there is no AQI then who are the Sunni sheiks in Anbar helping us kill or drive out? If there is no AQI then who was running the little petty fiefdoms all over the place hacking heads off and enforcing sharia barbarity? Who cut off all those heads in the videos, who was scaring the bejeezus out of so many people they were afraid to point out the killers amongst them?

Either the Iraqis believe in ghosts, or there was and still is enough of an AQ presence there to deserve our srious attention. As Mr. Kurtz points out in his retort Tilghman decides every act of violence is either all sectarian or the work of AQ. This ignores the fact that many of the tribes now helping us whack tangos in the Sunni Triangle were de facto auxilliary forces or in fact allied directly with AQ. It is understandable that as members of the minority sect that had previously profited from the domination of the rest, they would fear any association with their invaders.

As the Sunni insurgency took form, AQ saw opportunity and began reinforcing with foreign jihadis. Somehow Mr. Tilghman forgets all the foreign terrorists, identified by their own papers we have sent to Allah. That was one of the major themes of the media, that we had created a magnet for jihadis. Well to some extent that is true, but now so many of the holy horrors have assumed room temperature that they are playing their rec league softball teams against the US Marines. And that is gonna leave a mark.

Tilghman also take reports that place responsibility for bombing attacks on AQI and determines that if the perpetrators are not card-carrying AQ members, then it is simply sectarian violence. Well the Shia militias tend to favor EPs against our troops and snatch and torture techniques against Sunni and others they oppose.  Does he think the bombings in Sunni neighborhoods are done by their own people to terroize themselves. AQI uses bombings as they are much more likely to gain them the publicity they crave and they don't care if they slaughter Sunni or Shia, all are lambs for the jihad slaughter.

The idea that US and Iraqi leadership have invented a powerful AQI to ensure support for their efforts flies in the face of so much evidence to the contrary, it is tough to figure out why he would write such an ill-founded piece. Not to be cynical, but I smell a book deal and the need to have a controversial topic.

Bush lied again, No WMD, No al Qaeda, no victory. I wonder if he moonlights speech-writing for Chucky Schumer.

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