by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright July 28, 2006
All Rights Reserved.

ddressing a joint session of congress, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki resorted to old White House talking points, telling elected officials that Iraq was somehow related to Sept. 11. Though disowned when confronted, President George W. Bush has reluctantly admitted that no such connection exists. Yet Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald M. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have oft-repeated that Iraq is the central front in the war on terror, warning that if the U.S. fails in Iraq, it will confront terrorism on U.S. soil. Maliki read from the same script, telling congress that battling terrorists in Iraq will keep them off American streets. When Iraq's Al Qaeda chief Abu Musab Al Zarqawi was killed June 8, the White House's myth was shattered that Osama bin Laden was driving Iraq's insurgency and guerrilla war.

      Zarqawi was the White House's best connection to Sept. 11. When Zarqawi exited the scene and the insurgency raged on, it became clear that he was a minor player in the ethnic strife threatening to drag Iraq into civil war. Maliki, like the White House, likes to discount the extent to which Iraq's ethnic minorities battle each other for economic and social supremacy. Bush and Maliki want to perpetuate the illusion that Iraq's insurgency is due to the same terrorists responsible for Sept. 11. Every respected analysis has disputed this propaganda, identifying Iraq's warring factions for today's anarchy and violence. Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, refused to criticize another Shiite group, Hezbollah, now battling Israel in Lebanon. Maliki wants more tax dollars and sacrifice from U.S. soldiers without condemning Hezbollah or other Islamic extremists threatening the West.

      No one wants to “lose” in Iraq but the U.S. faces a bitter pill fighting a guerrilla war costing $500 billion and nearly 2,600 American lives. Maliki knows that he's one bullet away from extremists hell-bent on seeing his government and the U.S. fail. He's seen by a sizable part of Iraq's population as a U.S. patsy. Maliki's attempt to cobble together a ethnically mixed government while, at the same time, walking a tightrope with Iran, its favorite son radical cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and a variety of Sunni factions leaves him in a poor position to lecture congress about the nefarious link between Iraq's insurgency and Sept. 11. Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell warned then President George H.W. Bush at the end of first Gulf War in 1991 that toppling Saddam would create a dangerous power vacuum, unleashing a hornet's nest of ethnic strife, violence and chaos.

      Israel's war in Lebanon has given the White House a welcomed reprieve in Iraq, where the security situation has deteriorated. “The fate of our country and yours is tied. Should democracy be allowed to fail in Iraq and terror permitted to triumph, then the war on terror will never be won,” said Maliki, selling the congress on the same worn-out talking points. Maliki had no problem blaming Al Qaeda for perverting Islam but said nothing about how Hamas and Hezbollah, with the help of Iran, continuously subvert any Mideast peace. Maliki mentioned nothing about Al Sadr, whose Al Mehdi militia has been responsible for the lion's share of violence against Sunnis and U.S. and Iraqi forces. Unless the U.S. and Maliki's fledgling government disarm Al Sadr, there will be no peace in Iraq. Maliki cleverly plays on post-Sept. 11 fears and those of Republicans facing reelection in November.

      Maliki claims he needs more money because much of the aid goes to American security firms, protecting construction companies, while insurgents simultaneously attack and destroy foreign investments. Nothing was said about the billions in aid presently missing in action. Maliki also doesn't like to mention that a sizable block within his own government and security forces have sympathy for insurgents fighting U.S. occupation. It's one thing begging for more money and U.S. troops but it's outrageous selling congress on how Iraq's insurgency is related to global terrorism and U.S. national security. No one really believes that a democratic Iraq will stop Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Sadr, Al Qaeda or any other terrorist group. Maliki should have stuck to the facts without selling the congress on how U.S. national security is linked to the survival of Iraq's budding democracy.

      Democratic votes in Palestine and Iran have placed radicals in power, leaving the region and world more unstable. If Maliki follows popular trends, Iraq too will turn to Islamic extremism, robbing its people of secular freedoms not seen in today's theocracies. Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharif, a key White House ally, knows what popular democracy would do to his country. Musharif maintains an iron fist dealing with radical groups seeking to topple his pro-Western government. Maliki currently leads a fragile government more determined than ever to end U.S. occupation. Like Hezbollah in Lebanon, if Maliki really looks to the future, he must deal with Al Sadr or face an ongoing hemorrhage that will eventually end his reign. Instead of begging the U.S. for more money and troops, Maliki should be cleaning his own house of extremists and subversives.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in global and national news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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