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Foolish Myths and a Quick Review of Why Iraq Makes Sense

Brilliant as usual, Hitchens debunks myths re al-Qaeda in Iraq, which of course is one of the central bickering points about the war. * 

Over the past few months, I have been debating Roman Catholics who differ from their Eastern Orthodox brethren on the nature of the Trinity, Protestants who are willing to quarrel bitterly with one another about election and predestination, with Jews who cannot concur about a covenant with God, and with Muslims who harbor bitter disagreements over the discrepant interpretations of the Quran. Arcane as these disputes may seem, and much as I relish seeing the faithful fight among themselves, the believers are models of lucidity when compared to the hair-splitting secularists who cannot accept that al-Qaida in Mesopotamia is a branch of al-Qaida itself.

…

The founder of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who we can now gratefully describe as “the late.” The first thing to notice about him is that he was in Iraq before we were. The second thing to notice is that he fled to Iraq only because he, and many others like him, had been driven out of Afghanistan.

But you’ll want to read the whole thing. 

* Iraq War opponents often argue as though there is only one rationale for the war.  Whichever one they are attempting to debunk at the moment.  Iraq distracts us from the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The implication being that al Qaeda will pack up tent in Iraq if we do.  Al Qaeda in Iraq wasn’t there before us (one of the myths Hitchens addresses), therefore we shouldn’t fight al Qaeda there.  You don’t hear the old no WMD canard much anymore.  Still hear the US supported Iraq vs. Iran canard, as if the perceived wrongs of 20 years ago would be reason to ignore the problems of today. A bizarre objection to raise. All go-nowhere, finger-wagging arguments that fail to address the key point.  In fact there are many reasons this war made/makes sense. Al Qaeda is in a lot of places. Iraq had a serious WMD problem. We should be siding with Iraq against Iran, in a way that makes sense today. I still like the one that says Saddam was an unimagineably cruel genocidal maniac who could be expected to keep trying to dominate his neighbors and support al Qaeda against us. I agree with George Bush and Dick Cheney. The world had changed such that he could not be allowed to remain in it. But whatever you think we should have done, where and how we should have done it, today, like it or not, we are at war. We have enemies. In Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Iran and elsewhere. Even here at home. Europe, Southeast Asia.  Australia. Africa. Latin America. You name it. The only place they haven’t turned up, as far as I know, is Antarctica, though I can’t state that with certainty. They will not stop fighting just because we do. In fact, due to their inherent weakness, their strategy is based in large part on the notion that we can be persuaded to stop fighting, thereby amplifying their power. They want to kill us and will do anything they can, wherever they can, to do that. Therefore, it is better to deny them that opportunity, and kill them where we find them first.  To this end, American soldiers have been operating, fighting and dying, in our service and in our name, for us, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in many places around the world, and hopefully will continue to fight in those places until there is no longer a need to do so.  Thanks, by the way, American soldiers, for doing that, and I’ll shut up about that now.

Meanwhile: Ah, memories. Love that Zarqawi photo with the Hitchens article. That was the fat Zarqawi, video taken shortly before he got whacked, I believe, demonstrating that he didn’t know what he was doing with that machine gun. 

Topics: Afghanistan, Iraq, al qaeda

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:31 pm on Monday, August 13, 2007

6 Responses to “Foolish Myths and a Quick Review of Why Iraq Makes Sense”

1. saltydog Says:
   August 14th, 2007 at 2:49 am

   Thanks for the editorial, Jules. Well said. Couldn’t have said it better myself. (If I could, . . . ah what a dream.)

2. Dave Surls Says:
   August 14th, 2007 at 1:32 pm

   “Still hear the US supported Iraq vs. Iran canard…”

   Usually you hear that complaint frm adherents of the political party that provided virtually unlimited support to Stalin’s Soviet Union during WWII (as opposed to the very limited amount of support the Reagan administration provided the Iraqis).

   Talk about irony.

3. 4iraqisfuture Says:
   August 14th, 2007 at 2:30 pm

   How did Zarqawi get so fat if he was on the run day and night?

   Oh well, it doesn’t matter.

   I think “the Onion” had it right when it said he and his kind would end up as human condoms for thorn-cocked demons in hell.

4. Vanguard of the Commentariat Says:
   August 14th, 2007 at 2:43 pm

   “Iraq distracts us from the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan. ”

   And when I ask the people making this argument if FDR’s landings in French Morocco distracted us from the fight against Imperial Japan in the Pacific, their reactions tend to get even nuttier.

5. 4iraqisfuture Says:
   August 14th, 2007 at 7:41 pm

   Vanguard–

   that would’ve made milk come out my nose.

   Thank you.

6. Grimmy Says:
   August 15th, 2007 at 10:55 am

   Never mind having to listen to the leftards trying to explain away Ansar al Islam while totally misconstruing what the no fly zones were all about.

   There’s only one answer that fits them. They’ve given themselves over, lock, stock and barrel, to adhering to the enemy in every possible way. Their entire world view is tailored for them by those that wish us all destroyed.

   And still, so many of us find it hard to even utter the word, traitor.

   “Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason? Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason. ”

   It has become such a trendy game to play that no one dare call the players out.

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