Hmmm do we know there were no WMD? Didn't I hear they might be in Syria but it's too dangerous to check?
The war on terror seems to have paid off: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/5/1/135511.shtml Sunday, May 1, 2005 1:48 p.m. EDT Wash. Post: Iraq War Kept U.S. Safe In a stunning admission, the Washington Post said Sunday that President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq deserves at least some of the credit for the fact that terrorists have not been able to launch another 9/11-style strike against America. "A broad cross section of counterterrorism officials believes al Qaeda and like-minded groups, in part frustrated by increased U.S. security measures, are focusing instead on Americans deployed in Iraq," the paper said, "where the groups operate with relative impunity." Bush administration officials have long argued that taking the war to the terrorists' doorstep was the best way of drawing fire away from the homeland, while "draining the swamp" of global terrorism's most notorious players. Conventional media wisdom held, however, that the war had actually boosted al-Qaida recruitment - generating an even greater threat to the U.S. than would have otherwise been the case. Intelligence officials cited by the Post, however, now say just the opposite has happened. "Reports of credible terrorist threats against the United States are at their lowest level since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001," according to U.S. intelligence officials and federal and state law enforcement authorities cited by the paper. Even in the Middle East, the Bush administration's offensive strategy seems to have produced results from a national security standpoint. With their ability to communicate and move about freely limited by tight U.S. and Pakistani surveillance, Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al Zawahiri, have both recently urged Abu Musab al Zarqawi, chief of al-Qaida operations in Iraq, to organize attacks on the U.S. homeland. But Zarqawi himself remains pinned down by U.S. forces in and around Baghdad, with almost weekly reports of skirmishes where he's barely eluded capture. Unnoted by the Post, the war has also eliminated a key safe haven for global terrorism - Iraq had for decades played host to some of the most notorious perpetrators of attacks against American civilians. Abu Nidal, whose terror organization is credited with dozens of attacks that killed over 400 people, lived in Baghdad from 1999 till August 2002, when he was found shot to death in his state-supplied home. Abu Abbas, who masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship, during which wheelchair-bound American Leon Klinghoffer was shot dead and pushed over the side of the ship - died in U.S. custody after being captured in Baghdad. > What are the reasons we went into Iraq? > > WMD? That was a bust. But then again we knew that before we attacked. > Al Qeada? There has never been any evidence of ties between Sadam and Bin > Laden, or between the Al Qeada and Iraq. > Nor has there been evidence of Iraq or Sadam planning or participating in > terrorist activities against the USA or US citizens. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:156635 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
