http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275714,00.html

So how does that float with the idea we can leave Iraq...and go fight the "war" against al Qaeda.

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McCain/Palin 2008
"We make war that we may live in peace"
"Peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever."
"Keep that faith,keep your courage,stick together, stay strong,do not yield,do not flinch,stand up,we're Americans,we'll never surrender they will"
http://members.cox.net/neddy/bobhope_kerfuffles.wmv
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnfflRNpwKA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-QYIP7o2-A

Maybe the Dems don't know that al Zawahiri is #2 in Al Qaeda?
Or maybe the Dems want al Qaeda to rule all of the Middle East?

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

or maybe the mideasterners need to learn to take care of themselves, solve their own problems, and stop depending on the USA to police the whole world.

I am truly SHOCKED that Al Qaeda is seeking to take advantage of the mess in the Middle East created by the US invasion of Iraq. Had I realized they were bad guys then I would have supported the entire incompetently executed invasion that provided them with the opportunity to produce videotapes trumpeting their successes. If I had known they harbored a fantasy of transforming the Middle East into another Ottoman Empire, I would have cheered the "victories" the Bush administration has achieved over the last five years. No doubt the Iranians, Saudis, and Egyptians would have, too.

And had I known that Al Qaeda speaks for all Muslims, I would have ignored the civil war going on in Iraq between Sunnis and Shi'ites. I would have realized that "a greater Syria" was a goal that the Egyptians, Lebanese, Iranians, Palestnians, and Saudis have been working toward. I would have realized that Hamas and Fatah are only killing one another as a smoke screen in the Palestinian territories. I would have known the Hezbollah was just a Shi'ite front for a Sunni Al Qaeda.

Sorry, boys, but the Mideast is a bit more complicated than you apparently realize. And bravado exhibited on videotapes should be taken with a grain of salt whether the bravado is exhibited by al Zawahiri or George Bush.

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"To announce that..we are to stand by the president whether right or wrong..is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

No, but they do speak for most gun-toting, America hating, head-chopping, civilian-terrorizing, fanatical maniacs of the Islamic persuasion.

Sorry, but that's not true either. Despite the oversimplifications so popular among members and supporters of this administration, Al Qaeda neither runs nor speaks for a many of the groups dedicated to opposing the West in the Muslim world. If you actually took the time to learn something about such groups you would find that Al Qaeda, a term that means "the base" is a loose confederation of autonomous groups, some of which share its overall ideology and some of which are tactical, not strategic, allies.

Furthemore, groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and Fatah, each of which opposes US policy and Western nations to a greater or lesser degree, are not only unaffiliated with, but actively opposed to Al Qaeda. Likewise, the latest Bush administration bogeyman, Iran, actively opposes Al Qaeda and cooperated with the US as recently as 2003 in attacking Al Qaeda cells. Likewise, Syria's current government is no more favorable toward Al Qaeda than the Iraqi government under Saddam. On the other hand, a major US ally, Pakistan, has an intelligence service and portions of its military that are active Al Qaeda allies. And while the Saudi government actively opposes Al Qaeda, significant financial support, not to mention manpower has been suppled by members of the royal family and its allies.

In short, if one is going to proclaim knowledge of Al Qaeda, much less the array of anti-American groups, some of which are reasonably classified as terrorist organizations, it would be a good idea to actually learn something about their structures, strategies, and goals rather than to resort to oversimplified labels that fail to illuminate anything about the challenges faced by American foreign policy. "Al Qaeda" can be a useful analytic term; it can also be a label slapped on any group the Bush administration happens to want to villify. The term has been used by the Bush administration far more often in the latter sense than in the former.

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"To announce that..we are to stand by the president whether right or wrong..is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

This post exhibits the entire problem with libs regarding the Middle East. They continue to miss the Big Picture. They think that it's all totally separate and none of it is related. NEWSFLASH: All the problems in the Middle East are at least somewhat related. It ALL goes back to Israel and Palestine. AND libs think it all began with George W. Bush. They have memory loss when it comes to the past administrations....including Democrat ones.....that dealt with the SAME problems. Al Qaeda began long before George W. Bush was on the scene. And al Qaeda used Pres. Clinton's picture for target practice and began planning 9/11 during the Clinton administration. It's just that George W. Bush realizes the importance of it; Clinton did not.

You see, libs-----the thing you don't understand or grasp is that al Qaeda and terrorists don't care which party is in power here. They hate all of us. And they want to kill you, your children, and everything American. The sooner you start to realize this and get onboard to helping, the better off we'll all be. And IF a Democrat is lucky enough to become President......you'll soon discover the war against al Qaeda and terrorism will continue. It has to. And I'm betting that you will suddenly be onboard then.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Try a bit further back, the Balfour Declaration where Jews were given hope of Jewish national Homeland and the Arabs were promised an Arab Nation on the same piece of ground.

West grudgingly gave Arab independence to Saudi princes but not the people same for Iran, same for Syria, same for Egypt same for Iraq same for Jordan. Some have managed to climb out of feudalism some are still in a feudal society.

Of course "Stupid's War" will continue, because he started it as a ground war. Once that is started you have very little room for manoeuvre, there is a great need to disengage and start to fight it properly.

But of course the Rupugnicons see that as retreat and lose of face and think the only viable strategy is to charge once more into the breach with the belief that anyone who wont link hands as they gaily enter the portals of death and madness is some sort of turncoat. Carrying out the same tactics that have failed is called suicide and stupidity. Please engage the grey matter. The Strategy doesn't work, there was no plan, wars are not won on wishful thinking.

So, what you're saying is that Britain---your OWN country----screwed up Big Time. So, why are you blaming everyone else? Look within.

And your OWN Prime Minister was right in there with us.

Wars are also not won by sitting back on your thumbs and HOPING for the best. You're not from the U.S.----so you haven't a clue what 9/11 was like for us. BTW, George W. Bush had only been in office for some 232 days. He didn't even have all of his administration in place yet. So, the hate for us sure as heck did NOT start with him. BTW, who are you going to place all your hate and blame on once Bush is gone in a couple of years?

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

What a pile of excrement! Your selective memory of how history unfolds is hilarious. The Balfour Agreement wasn't worth the paper it was written on. The arabs were openly violating it before it was finalized.

So the mess in the Middle East is really the fault of the UK. Okay, thanks for finally admitting it. Now that we're doing what we can to untangle the maze of colossal ignorance imposed by the Imperial "wisdom" of Lord Balfour you have the gall to comment on our failure before it's even done?

That failed policy was inflicted on us over 80 years ago. We've been working our plan to fix it for six years. Come back and post your inanities in 80 years. Until then, you're just part of the din that doesn't understand nor cares to try. If it indeed turns out successfully, I have little faith that you'll be around to accept the fact that you were wrong in the first place.

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"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)