July 24, 2007
Bush To War Critics: It's Al-Qaida, Stupid
President Bush delivered a stern challenge to anti-war Americans: Admit that leaving Iraq is the same as walking away from the war against al-Qaida.
Speaking before airmen at the Charleston Air Force Base, Bush used newly declassified portions of the latest National Intelligence Estimate [PDF] to beat back critics demanding he commit to withdrawal from Iraq.
Compared with other insurgent elements, "al-Qaida in Iraq stands out for its extremism, unmatched operational strength, foreign leadership, and determination to take the jihad beyond Iraq's borders," Bush said, quoting from the report. Reminding audience members that U.S. military commanders in Iraq and intelligence agencies at home consider al-Qaida to be "public enemy No. 1," Bush said, "There's a good reason they are called al-Qaida in Iraq. They are al-Qaida. In Iraq."
Bush was speaking less than 24 hours after the eight Democrats seeking to replace him gathered in Charleston to spar over how they would end the Iraq war. (See The Gate's coverage of the CNN-YouTube debate.) A new ABC News/Washington Post poll [PDF] released yesterday evening also tracked further erosion of GOP support for Bush's war policy.
That is a startling turnabout for a man once viewed as the savior of the party. But the exact quality Americans find most frustrating about him -- his unwillingness to stray from a course few want to follow -- is framed by the president as steadfastness in the face of adversity.
"We have already seen how al-Qaida used a failed state thousands of miles from our shores to bring death and destruction to the streets of our cities," he said, invoking the 9/11 attacks, "and we must not allow them to do so again."
Bush may have lost the backs of most Americans -- nearly 80 percent of respondents said The Decider was too inflexible on the war -- but he has one thing still going for him: the U.S. military.
Americans haven't turned on the war's current planners, and so far aren't willing to force them out of Iraq while they insist the counterinsurgency strategy is working. The percentage of the population favoring an immediate pullout remains in the low 30s. For perspective, that's about the same number who still think Bush is doing a good job.
Bush's challenge to his war critics is actually pretty complex. While the numbers are in dispute, there's little doubt fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden have set up camp in Iraq, and that they are responsible for the bolder, high-casualty suicide bombings there. Were U.S. troops to leave now, as Iraqi forces continue to disappoint, those fighters might come to own that country.
Bush's critics have countered that Iraq only became the "central front" in the war against al-Qaida because the U.S. badly botched the invasion. But that argument doesn't explain away the reality on the ground. U.S. forces are now fighting back al-Qaida loyalists there. Fear that premature withdrawal would effectively cede territory to Islamic extremists may be why few Americans support withholding funds [PDF] for the war.
"Here's the bottom line: al-Qaida in Iraq is run by foreign leaders loyal to Osama bin Laden," Bush said. "If we were not fighting these al-Qaida extremists and terrorists in Iraq, they would not be leading productive lives of service and charity."
Bush has revived the al-Qaida link in recent months as hope for a political compromise in Iraq continues to dim. The bulk of the violence on the ground is committed by Sunni and Shia militias, who are waging a sectarian battle to avenge past wrongs and grab as much power over the other side as they can. But al-Qaida is viewed as the bigger immediate threat; the NIE concluded that the global terrorist network has only grown stronger since the war began.
Critics may be right to blame Bush for al-Qaida's resurgence. But Bush's question remains unanswered: What are they going to do about it?
Posted at 4:00 PM
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Al-Qaida, Bush Administration, Congress, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Terrorism
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