A Terrorist Breeding Ground: The New Iraq

According to a report released last week by the National Intelligence Council,

“Iraq provides terrorists with "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills," said David B. Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats. "There is even, under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries."

The report, “took a year to produce and includes the analysis of 1,000 U.S. and foreign experts. Within the 119-page report is an evaluation of Iraq's new role as a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists…

President Bush has frequently described the Iraq war as an integral part of U.S. efforts to combat terrorism. But the council's report suggests the conflict has also helped terrorists by creating a haven for them in the chaos of war.

Before the U.S. invasion, the CIA said Saddam Hussein had only circumstantial ties with several al Qaeda members. Osama bin Laden rejected the idea of forming an alliance with Hussein and viewed him as an enemy of the jihadist movement because the Iraqi leader rejected radical Islamic ideals and ran a secular government.

Bush described the war in Iraq as a means to promote democracy in the Middle East. "A free Iraq can be a source of hope for all the Middle East," he said one month before the invasion. "Instead of threatening its neighbors and harboring terrorists, Iraq can be an example of progress and prosperity in a region that needs both."

But as instability in Iraq grew after the toppling of Hussein, and resentment toward the United States intensified in the Muslim world, hundreds of foreign terrorists flooded into Iraq across its unguarded borders. They found tons of unprotected weapons caches that, military officials say, they are now using against U.S. troops.

According to the NIC report, Iraq has joined the list of conflicts -- including the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, and independence movements in Chechnya, Kashmir, Mindanao in the Philippines, and southern Thailand -- that have deepened solidarity among Muslims and helped spread radical Islamic ideology.”

We the United States of America, have created this breeding ground for terrorism. In our war against terrorism we attacked a secular nation that had little or no ties to Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, and now we have spawned the unthinkable; Yet another middle Eastern conflict that the Arab world can rally around and use as evidence to confirm their fears of American Imperialism.

We had a contained dictator, with no weapons of mass destruction, and minimal ties to terrorism. (Especially when compared to other nations in the region, including our two staunchest allies Pakistan and Saudi Arabia) We had this dictator surrounded, limited, sanctioned, and cut off from the world.

We now have a terrorist breeding ground, an even more unstable country, unguarded weapons depots, and a rallying call for the Islamic jihadists. In hindsight its incredibly difficult to make the case that invading Iraq has made America safer. I believe quite the contrary.

Maybe Howard Dean wasn’t such a nut when he said something very similar more then a year ago. Remember, he was mocked and belittled by the media, the Republicans, and even many democrats distanced themselves from his position.

Here’s what Howard Dean had to say in 2003!!!!

“There is a global struggle underway between peace-loving Muslims and this radical minority that seeks to hijack Islam for selfish and violent aims, that exploits resentment to persuade that murder is martyrdom, and hatred is somehow God’s will. The tragedy is that, by its actions, its unilateralism, and its ill-considered war in Iraq, this Administration has empowered radicals, weakened moderates, and made it easier for the terrorists to add to their ranks.”

The war in Iraq has been a serious setback in the war on terrorism and it should begin to be viewed as such.