That's just warmongering fantasy:
- Iraqi police have arrested four al-Qaeda-linked suspects in the bombing of Iraq's holiest Shiite Muslim shrine, a senior police official told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The official, who said the explosion death toll had risen to 107, said the men - two Iraqis and two Saudis - were caught shortly after Friday's car bombing.
The attack killed one of the most important Shiite clerics in Iraq, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, who had been cooperating with the American occupation force. [AP]
Saddamists and Islamists are united in their hatred of democracy, vibrant Western culture, Israel, and individual rights. This was the case before the war and is the case now. They are also united in the fact that they need to be eradicated.
UPDATE - Now we're up to 19:
- Police have arrested 19 men - many of them foreigners and all with admitted links to al-Qaida - in the car bombing of the Imam Ali shrine in the holy city of Najaf, a senior Iraqi investigator told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two Iraqis and two Saudis grabbed shortly after the Friday attack gave information leading to the arrest of the others. They include two Kuwaitis and six Palestinians with Jordanian passports. The remainder were Iraqis and Saudis, the official said, without giving a breakdown.
"All those arrested belong to the Wahhabi sect (of Sunni Islam), and they are all connected to al-Qaida," the official said. Wahhabism is the strict, fundamentalist branch of Sunni Islam from which al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden draws spiritual direction.
Bin Laden, Iraq, not possible.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Natalie Davis
Hmmm... some al-Qaeda members are in Iraq. Some al-Qaeda members are in the US. Ergo, unleash the Death Brigade, Coalition of the Killing, what-have-you on the US!
Um... no. That would be wrong. First of all, violence is immoral, period (says the pacifist). Second of all, the presence of terrorist-network members in a place does not constitute an automatic connection to that place's government. Take the US for example. I fully believe the Shrub and his henchpersons are terrorists, and I know that there are al-Qaeda members in this country, but I seriously doubt the two sets of terrorists are in cahoots with each other.
2 - BJ
Eric, the evidence for a Saddam / al Queda connection pre-war was flimsy (at best). See Powell's UN speech (the definitive version of the Bush Admin.'s best evidence) - it was extremely thin.
Especially as compared to say, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan or lots of other countries we'd never think of invading.
On the other hand, there is a lot of evidence that al Queda (and anyone else with a beef with Americans) has been pouring in since.
3 - Natalie Davis
Note: I am not saying that there is not a connection between the Saddam regime and al-Qaeda, only that what you write and the story to which you link does not persuade me. Even if it eventually is proven that these people arrested have connections to the toppled regime, I don't see any justification for what has been done and continues to be done to the Iraqi people and their homeland by the US Death Brigade.
4 - Steve Rhodes
Your headline is right. The rest is wrong.
Yet another reason for Bush to go to war - to finally create a connection between Saddam and Al-Queda (though I imagine even now they are working more in parellel than in tandem). Except I doubt they were that foresighted. Even though there were warnings there would be more terrorism if the US invaded Iraq.
There has been ample evidence that the Bush administration is inept and fucked things up, ignoring advice that would have made the lives of Iraqis better after Hussein went into hiding.
This NYT article shows Bush is still inept. After the blast, nobody took charge. The US hasn't even given bodyguards to all of the members of the Iraqi Governing Council and the US hasn't even given them access to satellite tv.
They may have hated "democracy, vibrant Western culture, Israel, and individual rights." But if this bombing was the work of Al-Queda, it show they hate other Arabs who don't agree with them just as much. And Al-Queda also hated the corrupt, secular regime of Iraq.
Last week, on the Sunday morning snooze shows, Bremer kept bringing up Ansar al-Islam. They were based in northern Iraq which wasn't controlled by Saddam, and if there were a threat, the US should have taken them out long before the war began. And there was never any evidence found that the base Powell said in his speech they were using to create cheimical weapons was doing so.
The Shiites are blaming the US. And not just because of the recent bombing. An investigation showed that troops intentionally knocked down a Shiite flag on Aug. 13th which led to rioting. Many Iraqis are not happy with what the US had been doing.
I'm afraid things will get worse before they get better.
5 - Dawn
Or what they are doing to their own people for that matter.
Seems that extremists in Iraq show no preference between coalition forces and those attending worship at mosques. They, like Palestinian suicide bombers, just want to kill, kill, kill.
Our goverment may feel justified to kill those who oppose their agenda to promote eventual stability and peace in that country, but what excuse do the people who blew up the mosque in Iraq yesterday have?
I am really curious.
6 - mike
Before the war, Western intelligence agencies and others, such as Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, argued that there was no connection between Saddam and al-Queda but that postwar chaos would insure that bin laden's people came flooding in. That happened.
Eric, honestly, unless you and Honest Al Barger can produce some evidence from reputable sources about a connection (the Weekly Standard and the Daily Telegraph don't cut it), I'd suggest giving it up. This one's going into the dustbin of history along with the WMD nonsense, the "flypaper" theory, and the reputations generally of neoconservative scum like William Kristol, Michael Ledeen and the rest of that sorry lot. They had it coming and they're getting it.
7 - mike
Dawn: It is a central tenet of guerilla theory, from Maoism to the VietCong to the Afghan guerillas of the 1980s, that you create chaos to drive out the invaders. Guerilla warfare is among the most brutal practiced. The CIA knew this when it trained the Afghan guerillas, the contras in Nicaragua, and countless other monsters. The Soviets knew it when they assisted Ho Chi Minh, Nelson Mandela, and scores of other left wing movements.
Admit it: you were wrong about the war. It's time to bring our troops home. They're dying for oil, Likkud, and the Republican National Committee, not the U.S. national interest, and those who sent them in have blood on their hands. I opposed the war, and my hands are clean. I'm completely vindicated.
8 - Dawn
Admit what? What was I wrong about? What the HELL are you talking about exactly?
9 - Jim Carruthers
Jeez, do the Bush junta have to recruit astroturf foot-soldiers to propagate their Big Lie?
When Richard Perle is frogmarched out of the White House in handcuffs, that might be the turning point.
10 - Dawn
No disrespect here Jim, but shut the hell up with you neo-liberal asspeak.
11 - Eric Olsen
All I'm saying (and sorry about the spelling, it's fixed) is that it is the same war, has always been the same war against those of the same mentality using the same techniques of indescriminate mass murder, in the same part of the world.
12 - Jim Carruthers
Dawn, that's "Mr. Asshat" to you. And I'm not a liberal, I'm a freaked out commie libertarian trans-human post-singularity free person.
Thank you very mush.
13 - Natalie Davis
"When Richard Perle is frogmarched out of the White House in handcuffs..."
Frogmarched?
The images that come to mind are hilarious. Perle in handcuffs. :)
14 - Eric Olsen
I was under the impression frogs generally leap.
15 - mike
Since failed hawkish policies often rebound to the benefit of the failers, it's very possible the neoconservative junta will escape punishment for its brutality.
An ominous model for the future of the U.S. is Israel. It's still nominally a democratic state, but in reality has long since degenerated into an apartheid like regime, awash in corruption and gasping under a fortress mentality. It bears little resemblance to the noble ideas of its founders. The U.S. is heading in that direction, may already be there.
16 - Dawn
Mike, how IS the view from Mars?
17 - John Mudd
Well, to anyone with a clue about what was going on internationally, it was obvious that attacking Iraq had nothing to do with Al Quaeda, although, it's clear to my inner-PR self that the hawks spun it that way, similarly to the way Hill and Knowlton spun the "babies being butchered" myth to gain support for the war in Iraq in the early 1990s. Myths are great at rallying initial support, such as in this case, but they always eventually lead to the plan's demise.
The reality of the war in Iraq is that it was simply done so that globalists could begin to divide the world into four sections and so the hawks could spread democracy into the region. Given that this operation was very sloppy, at best, I doubt either will be achieved, unless a new strategy is formulated.
The White House and H & K should take note.
18 - Jim Carruthers
Isn't there something about the administration blowing the cover of a CIA agent just because it seemed like the stupid thing to do?
I don't live in the States, but it seems like the country has gone nuts.
Just get rid of the the insane oligarcharchy you have running your country, and maybe I'll come over the border.
19 - Al Barger
No, Mr. Larkin, the US will NOT get to the position that Israel is in of "gasping under a fortress mentality." The relevant difference here is that US citizens will not tolerate the level of nonsense the Israeli people do. You could say that the restraint of Israelis bespeaks their nobility, or you could say that they're crippled by self-doubt, or some other explanation.
Whichever way, Americans are not NEAR so tolerant, thankfully. Whatever arguments you may make about the justifications, 9/11 has so far led to smashing two regimes in the region, among other things. There are three or four more that best be watching their step- and they know it. Imagine what terror will be opened up on people (unfortunately including many who don't deserve it) in response if we have even just a couple of suicide bombers at, say, a Pizza Hut in Fresno or some such.
All but the very few most crazy sonsabitches seem to be starting to get this point now. The very few most crazy will just have to be hunted down and exterminated.
No amount of liberal whining will stop US from defending ourselves. Not even BIG silly words like "oligarchy" or "frogmarched."
20 - Jim Carruthers
I read this several times, and couldn't make any sense of it. Just more information that the USA has gone just plain nuts.
So your leaders (which you didn't elect) decided to wage war against another state. The reasons your leaders used were lies. Now your leaders are trying to find an ecsuse for their big lie. So you deny you live in a police state with the death penalty.
21 - Natalie Davis
Are you in Canada, Jim? Wherever you reside, you are one lucky sonofagun.
22 - Jim Carruthers
I like to think I reside in a Temporaraly Autonumous Zone inspired by Hakim Bay.
Maybe that's a hummous zone, I don't know. mmmmm pita bread.
23 - Al Barger
Jim, you seem to be willfully ignorant. While it is reasonable to disagree with some of our specific defensive actions or strategies, the points that Eric and I are making seem fairly simple and straightforward. Let me dumb it down so that even a Canadian can understand: the US will squash anyone who is trying to kill us, or helping them.
Refusing to understand that point has not and will not stop US from defending ourselves.
24 - Jim Carruthers
So you are advocating all out fascism as a policy of state in other words? Totalitaritism instead of any other option.
Well isn't that special?
25 - mike
"Imagine what terror will be opened up on people (unfortunately including many who don't deserve it) in response if we have even just a couple of suicide bombers at, say, a Pizza Hut in Fresno."
As long as no one is in the Pizza Hut in Fresno, I wouldn't mind seeing it blown up. Have you tried their pineapple pizzas? Horrific! Talk about a crime against humanity!