Less safe, not more

According to story in today’s online edition of The New York Times, the intelligence assessment that has been causing so much “interest” over the weekend “said the invasion and occupation of Iraq had become a ‘cause célèbre’ for jihadists. It identified the jihad in Iraq as one of four underlying factors fueling the spread of the Islamic radicalism, along with entrenched grievances, the slow pace of reform and pervasive anti-American sentiment.”

First, let’s keep the causes and effects straight here. It was George Bush who invaded Iraq, not, originally, because it was a haven for terrorists, but because Saddam Hussein himself was supposedly a threat to us, an allegation that subsequently proved to be completely baseless. George Bush’s unjustified invasion of Iraq is the cause for Iraq now having become a “cause celebre for jihadists.”

Second, what I found even more interesting are the other three “factors fueling the spread of Islamic radicalism,” which include “entrenched grievances, the slow pace of reform and pervasive anti-American sentiment.”

Does George Bush have any kind of coherent policy for addressing these other causes of terrorism? Have we ever heard him talk about the social and economic issues in the Middle East and Africa that fuel radicalism? Don’t forget that most of the terrorists who “attacked” us on 9/11 were not Afghanis (who we invaded because of the attack), but Saudis, (who is supposedly our ally). As the saying goes, with “friends” like that, who needs enemies?

And is it possible that when George Bush defends torture of prisoners, when he holds people for years in prison camps without charges, and that when he says things like that he is acting according to God’s instructions --- by the way, isn’t it just a bit ironic that that’s exactly what the jihadists think they’re doing as well --- that he is fanning the flames of “pervasive anti-American sentiment”?

George Bush is making us less safe, not more.