Common Sense

Iraq isn’t so much a quagmire as it is a training ground for jihadists.

When the United States struck Afghanistan in 2001, “there were probably 3,000 core Al Qaeda operatives,” says [John] Arquilla of the Naval Postgraduate School. “We killed or captured about 1,000; about 1,000 more ended up in distant parts of the world. And about 1,000 ended up in Waziristan. But the great terror university in Afghanistan is gone; they’ve relied on the Web since. They haven’t had the hands-on instruction and the bonding of the camps. That’s resulted in low-skill levels. Their tradecraft is really much poorer.”

The danger now, says Arquilla, is that the longer the Iraq War goes on, the more skilled the new generations of jihadists will become. “They’re getting re-educated,” he says. “The first generation of Al Qaeda came through the [Afghan] camps. The second generation are those who’ve logged on [to Islamist Web sites]. The next generation will be those who have come through the crucible of Iraq. Eventually, their level of skill is going to be greater than the skill of the original generation.”

I can only think of three men, off the top of my head, who want us to really truly stay in Iraq and keep fighting: George W. Bush, PM Maliki and Osama bin Laden. When he approved the 9/11 attacks, do you think bin Laden didn’t expect us to go to Afghanistan? He was counting on it. The whole plan was to use the Taliban and his own al Qaida fighters and do to us what the mujahadeen did to the Soviets after they invaded in 1979. They were going to bleed us dry.

We outsmarted them, though. We used special ops forces, superior air power and local militias to fight our way to Kabul. In hindsight, our only mistake was not having American military forces guarding the rear passes out of Tora Bora.

Then some jackass says “What about Iraq?” And we give al Qaida what we denied them in Afghanistan, on a silver platter no less, in Mesopotamia. And because said jackass refuses to admit his mistakes, we’re at more risk of a terror attack on U.S. soil then we were before he went into the Oval Office.

Another attack, if we continue our presence in Iraq for the decade or more convential wisdom says will be necessary, is not only likely… it is practically guaranteed. Thanks a lot, Mr. President.