Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Iraq

Terrorist, that is such an interesting word. I heard part of the Bush speech and it is again pretty obvious to me how the link is made between Al Quaeda and (the resistance in) Iraq, by often using the term terrorist and by mentioning the Al Quaeda attacks in other parts of the world and linking them to the military activities in Iraq... it leads people to the wrong conclusions, plants the image in their heads. No wonder such a large percentage of Americans fully believe Iraq is a legitimate part of the war on terror!



Our agenda in contrast is freedom and independence, security and prosperity for the Iraqi people. And by removing a source of terrorist violence and instability in the Middle East we also make our own country more secure.





Americans have seen the flames of Sept. 11, followed battles in the mountains of Afghanistan and learned new terms like orange alert and ricin and dirty bomb. We've seen killers at work on trains in Madrid, in a bank in Istanbul, in a synagogue in Tunis and a nightclub in Bali. And now the families of our soldiers and civilian workers pray for their sons and daughter in Mosul and Karbala and Baghdad.





I also think using the word sovereign is misleading when it comes to the so-called transfer of power in about one month. If the Americans remain fully in charge of all matters regarding security, there simply is no Iraqi sovereignty at all. I find the entire process very lacking in transparency, it is window dressing and not much more.



Fascinating, isn't it, though, that he chose to give this particular speech at the Army War College. Only a few months back, they published a report calling this war a 'strategic error'.

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