Politics of Fear

Last week's news of the death of al-Zarqawi was good news indeed. However, looking back on what is known about him, it is clear that he was just another pawn, largely created by the U.S. in our "Global War on Terror." For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, and prone to think that I'm a "traitor," or a "conspiracy theorist," for making such comments, please read on before passing final judgement.

We all know that since 9/11/2001, the Administration has been at "war" with world-wide terrorism. We also know that Bush won re-election in 2004 largely because many Americans believed they'd be safer with him in charge. (Doesn't it just make you feel good to know these people are working on it?) What many don't know is the role al-Zarqawi played in that "war" (now being recast as a "struggle") prior to our invasion of Iraq. In the late 1990's he trained in Qaeda terror camps, although that wasn't his first time fighting alonside jihadists there. After the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, al-Zarqawi then fled, via Iran, to northern Iraq. This is where the story gets interesting...

The Bush administration knew that there were terrorists in northern Iraq, Ansar Al-Islam, and that al-Zarqawi had sought refuge with them. They also knew that Zarqawi had gone to Baghdad for medical treatment. When Colin Powell made his presentation to the U.N. in 2003, he asserted the claim that Saddam Hussein was harboring these terrorists. It all seems reasonable enough... There were terrorists in Iraq; Saddam Hussein did nothing about it; We had to eliminate Saddam Hussein so that these terrorists would not be allowed to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Here is the problem with the argument: The U.S. was maintaining "No-Fly Zones" in both northern and southern Iraq. Saddam did not have control over the region in which Ansar Al-Islam was hiding -- we were controlling it!! We knew where they were. We had good intelligence on the group. We knew that Zarqawi had traveled to Baghdad for medical treatment. We even had plans to take him out. The plans were never executed, because the Administration "didn't want to disrupt the war planning," according to an unnamed intelligence official quoted in Newsweek's June 19 edition. In other words, we chose not to eliminate Zarqawi back in 2002 because he helped us make a better case for invading Iraq. We used him as justification for invading the country, even though it was us, not Saddam Hussein, who preserved his safe-haven in northern Iraq.

Once the former regime was toppled, Zarqawi and his thugs swept into the power-vacuum. All that was left to do was for us to market him as the face of the insurgency, and then seek to eliminate him.

A rope, a tree...

It was a much improved effort by the US team versus Italy, but this guy in red had a lot to do with the draw...

World Cup Disappointment

Should I give up hope already? After so much hype, an overblown FIFA world ranking (#5), and talk of this being the deepest, most talented U.S. team ever, the U.S. was dismantled by the Czech Republic.


There are still two games to play within the group, but the Americans have to fight out of last place to pass two of the other three teams. Will this be like 1998 all over again? Someone tell me when it's over, I'm not sure if I can watch.