If the U.S. hadn’t let itself be beguiled into a war in Iraq, AQI would not have the devil it’s using (infidel occupation) to drive fence-sitters into their camp. Also, it would not have the fertile recruiting grounds it finds in the quagmire that is Iraq, or the on-the-job training fields it finds in a battle against occupying forces and Shiites.

Although the invasion of Iraq by U.S. forces did not create bad men like Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, it did create the breeding grounds for a viable AQI . The fact that Bush disunderstands this for political reasons shows his extreme hubris, foolishness, and condescension toward the intelligence of the American people.

I agree with Dave that it is a disaster there. My argument is that the war (up til Mission accomplished) was an incredible success militarily. Objectives were accomplished with very little collateral damage and little damage to the U.S. military. It was a military success. The nation-building has been an unmitigated disaster. But it was a very bad idea to even be there in the first place. I hope you understand what I am distinguishing.

I think that the “war on terror” is a terrible term and should be junked. It doesn’t describe anything real. Wars on ideologies allow the U.S. government to encroach on rights with executive orders and Communist witch hunts etc. In Orwell’s 1984, it didn’t matter who the war was against, as long as there was a war to justify the promotion of jingoism and taking away rights.

The war we should be fighting should be against a specific entity for a specific reason, but that would require to many questions be answered.

The careless and ill-planned occupation left a power vacuum that was quickly exploited by the same forces we claim to be fighting against. We have created a much more dangerous situation in Iraq than existed there previously. If the Iraqi government representatives manage to survive their drive to work, they manage to not get much constructive accomplished other than accuse everyone else of corruption.

Dave is right on in citing that the US has lost focus on the “war on terror.” As I recall we were not going to rest until bin Laden was pushing up daisies, yet the vast majority of our military strength is bogged down in a hopeles conflict. We can’t pull out without leaving the country to the terrorists and we can’t stay because the divides will only deepen.

I’ll believe we are involved in a war on terror when we stop fueling the terrorist ideology and actually begin to fight it.

I don’t necessarily think that the Bush administration bungled the war…they bungled the nation building. As for the war, as stated, we shouldn’t have been there in the first place since there was no Al-Qa’ida In Iraq at that point. It’s unfortunate that we continue to give the government, especially the executive branch, carte blanche with regard to foreign policy. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s Carter or Reagan in Central America or Iran or Lebanon, Clinton or GWB hunting Bin Laden, or Kennedy, Johnson or Nixon in Southeast Asia. U.S. efforts have been abject failures. Until we decide that freedom and human rights matter more than economic concerns and power politics, our foreign policy will continue to dig much bigger holes than it fills.