There are several recent occurrences that reinforce this concept, but which also should give discouraged conservatives renewed hope that the Bush administration actually might know what it is doing. Though I agree wholeheartedly that the administrations of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and our current president dropped the ball on global terrorism, I have to laugh at those who sneer with great satisfaction that George W. Bush has blown it and is a failed leader because he has “made mistakes.” Given the circumstances, only someone deeply possessed of clairvoyant abilities might have made fewer.
The mainstream media and sixties throwbacks seize upon any and every over-reported casualty, mis-step or setback as verification that Iraq has become a quagmire. The fact that they as the press and we as civilians cannot reasonably be immediately informed of every intelligence development for security reasons simply makes it easier for them to proffer their propaganda with impunity — that this should have been a shake’n’bake war; drop a few bombs, shoot a few of Saddam’s elite guard and it’s all over. The swiftness with which Iraqi forces gave up in 1991 made this argument easier to put forth to our microwavable, fifteen-second sound-byte society. So out comes the old dog-and-pony show: it’s Vietnam all over again; we need to cut and run; and anyone who supports the war just wants to send American kids to die.
The aforementioned “recent occurrences” start — although not in chronological order — with President Bush’s October 6 address to the National Endowment for Democracy regarding our efforts in Iraq and their relationship to global terror. Although the speech was received with some degree of puzzlement even to those supportive of the administration, some of us have seen a much deeper meaning, particularly in light of other events.
So let’s point-by-point the Bush policy utilizing these incidents. The president says they’ve got al-Qaeda on the run, that they’ve thwarted many terrorist attacks and have been getting good intelligence from captured al-Qaeda. He maintains that leaving prematurely would create a dangerous power vacuum that would result in an al-Qaeda-controlled state in an already unstable region, that we need to stay there, finish the job, and win.
So far so good. It’s a lot of the same we’ve heard from the president before, and although even sympathetic ears wanted to hear more, within the space of a week surrounding the president’s news conference, we have learned that
1. On October 7, US intelligence officials released information vis-à-vis an intercepted letter from al-Qaeda number two leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to the terror network's chief operative in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. A Pentagon spokesman indicated that the letter warned that tactics used by the insurgents (such as killing hostages and bombing mosques) could alienate the wider Muslim population — go figure — and that al-Qaeda faced defeat in Afghanistan.
2. Then, an informant reportedly told US intelligence last month that three men were plotting a coordinated bomb attack on our subways. US forces in Iraq subsequently arrested three suspected plotters and were seeking a fourth who had possibly entered the US already. Though later declared a “hoax,” the swift and decisive action by New York’s mayor and chief of police raised the ire of the federal government, but underscored the fact that horrific death was still fresher in the minds of New Yorkers than the average American television news junkie, hoax or not.
3. Scuttlebutt in the Arab media on US intelligence-monitored Islamic websites and amongst captured insurgents in Iraq, all point to something that unequivocally verifies President Bush’s claims relative to the climate in Iraq and the terrorist world, this being that al-Qaeda does indeed view Iraq as the primary and deciding battleground in this war.
4. On October 1, al-Qaeda-linked terrorists carried out suicide attacks on three restaurants in Bali which killed the bombers, 23 people, and wounded about 100 others. These are also the same individuals who allegedly carried out a similar attack that killed over 200 in Bali three years ago as well as other attacks in Indonesia, the world's most heavily Muslim nation.
There are al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq for two reasons: one, because due to American forces having deposed Saddam Hussein, there is that potential power vacuum; and two, because of the presence of the American forces themselves, which, by the way, are what we typically use to defeat enemies in military combat.
Now, of course we want our soldiers out of harm’s way, but it is the soldier’s lot in life to be in harm’s way. What better method might there be to draw out al-Qaeda, keep them engaged in a contained military theatre (hence, away from our shores) in which we are making continuous gains? In this manner, humiliating and demoralizing them while steps are taken in the arenas of diplomacy, economics and others we may not yet be aware of to dry up support for terrorist groups as the president has repeatedly outlined, we may be a great deal closer to winning this war than anyone but al-Qaeda itself imagines.
Erik Rush is a columnist and award-winning author whose first novel, The Angels Fell, a mystery-thriller, was released in 2002. He’s also been involved in music production, biomedical research, marketing and local politics.
