2005 Year in Review

Do the insurgents hate American's freedom?

President Bush claims that we have to fight terrorism in Iraq so that we don't have to fight it here. He also says that the insurgents in Iraq are fighting the United States because they hate our freedom. Neither claim seems to be based on fact.

Many government reports have shown that the invasion has actually increased the threat of terrorism. Recent bombings in London by British residents as retaliation for the British presence in Iraq are a further indication that the invasion has not helped fight terrorism.

Juan Cole, an expert on Arab issues, has an interesting article on his website today which gives the history of our problems in Iraq, going all the way back to the Reagan administration. It's interesting reading. It is clear that what the Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters hate is not America's freedom, but rather our interference with their radical aims. Thus, as Great Britain's Foreign Minister Jack Straw said today:

First there is Iraq. “Things are not good there at the moment,” he says, acknowledging the strength of the terrorist insurgency. But he believes a new Iraqi constitution can be agreed by the deadline of the middle of next month. “The more certainty you have on that, the more you can have a programme for the draw-down of troops which is important for the Iraqis,” he says. “Because – unlike in Afghanistan – although we are part of the security solution there, we are also part of the problem.”

Jack Straw has it in a nutshell. If we leave, the country likely will go into civil war. If we stay, the country will likely go into a civil war. It sounds like Great Britain is planning to leave.

by John Legler, Guest Columnist
August 3, 2005