Catastrophically counterproductive (Roanoke Times)

[struggle4progress]

<snip> Sept. 11 was exactly the type of "catastrophic and catalyzing event" this faction believed would be necessary to justify an invasion of Iraq - though there was no evidence then, and none now, linking Iraq to the attacks. <snip>

Six days after the attacks, Bush signed a top secret directive outlining the plan for war in Afghanistan. In that document, the Pentagon was directed to begin planning for the invasion of Iraq.

That invasion, and the catastrophically bungled occupation, turned Iraq into a breeder reactor for terrorists, creating legions of committed jihadists across the Arab world. In January, a report by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank, confirmed that Iraq had replaced Afghanistan as a training and breeding ground for "professionalized terrorists." <snip>

Bush's strategy in Iraq has been disastrously counterproductive. As a result, the world has become all the more dangerous.

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials\25290.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Slightly broken link

Try this: http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/25290.html

[teryang]

2. As someone pointed out Khalizad, our new ambassador

...is a major promoter of fundamentalist terrorism. The situation in Iraq is exactly the sort of thing this guy has been promoting for years as the governments "expert" on the middle east.

To anyone who hasn't studied terrorism in the middle east this may seem "counterproductive" but achieving stability and democracy in Iraq isn't and never has been the objective. Keeping Iraq permanently offline is the objective. This is how struggles in the mid east are fought, through proxy "terror" groups. It's the great game, don't ya know. Khalizad is considered one of the masters.

[indepat]

3. Almost every major policy and action of this Administration has been

disastrously counterproductive: that's what neocons do best for that's their job.