Bush ignored warnings - so what else is new?

In an extensive interview with the Associated Press Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, noted that the Saudis had warned King Emperor George about invading and occupying Iraq. Bush, the moralist, ignored Saudi expertise on terrorism because his gut told him that leading a war would make him appear to be a great leader and provide him the political capital he needed to rule the world.

With more than half the country believing the war is unwinnable and his ratings taking a nose-dive, Bush continues to link the invasion with a war on terrorism by overstating bushitting about the number of foreign fighters that have joined the insurgency to give a false impression that if he were to pull out of Iraq the US would be ripe for attack on our own soil he'd been seen as the impotent pussy he accuses his predecessors (except Daddy, who he needs to clean up his mess) of being. In truth, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), foreign fighters account for less than 10% of the 30,000 person strong insurgency.

The report says the presence of foreign fighters is cause for alarm "particularly because they play so large a role in the most violent bombings and in the efforts to provoke a major and intense civil war". The CSIS disputes reports that Saudis account for most of the foreign insurgents and says best estimates suggest Algerians are the largest group (20%), followed by Syrians (18%), Yemenis (17%), Sudanese (15%), Egyptians (13%), Saudis (12%) and those from other states (5%). British intelligence estimate the number of British jihadists at about 100.

The CSIS report says: "The vast majority of Saudi militants who have entered Iraq were not terrorist sympathisers before the war; and were radicalised almost exclusively by the coalition invasion." [Guardian]

In the meantime, sectarian divisiveness in Iraq threatens to further destabilize the Middle East as the country grows closer to current US arch-Enemy Iran which would intervene to support the Iraqi Shiites while marginalizing the minority Kurds and Sunnis increasing the likelihood that Turkey and Arab nations will get involved in any conflict.

At home and abroad, one can always trust Gerogie's gut to create some sort of holy war.

Tags: politics; Iraq War; we're Amercia, we own the world; BBA; Downing Street Memorandum; terrorism; Rumsfeld; Iran; nuclear proliferation; The Bushevick Revolution; King George; The Keystone Cops; Saudi Arabia

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