al Qaida, Inc.

The Emperor's New Clothes, Edmund Dulac

To raise your rifle is to lower your sights
--Being There (1979)


If you build it, he will come
--Field of Dreams (1989)


Why not make a provision for people who simply
may not be comfortable, or not psychologically or pragmatically
equipped, to deal with the state of being rehabilitated?
--Jerzy Kosinski
__________

And she's assisting him? Frances Frago Townsend, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, delivered a maddening non-interview on National Public Radio this morning.

She refused to make one informed or declarative statement on the recently leaked National Intelligence Estimate which outlined the self-inflicted wound that is Iraq. Three times the interviewer posted the question, "Is it true al Qaida had no capability in Iraq prior to 9-11," finally stopping his pursuit after receiving her inane comment about "that's where we're killing and capturing them," and "they go to where the battle is."

So. . .if you don't give battle, then what?

And why did we make for them a nice little battlefield on which they can pick off our good citizens? Townsend stated, as if with conviction, "We are keeping them tied down in Iraq." Them--al Qaida in Mesopotamia, a franchise which did not even exists prior to 9-11.

It is the old one battlefield theory Richard Clarke spoke of. As if these irregulars abide by such niceties as battlefield etiquette.

Moreover, al Qaida in Iraq is the only al Qaida affiliate that voices their specific desire as being to attack America, and they really don't have a way to project their combat power, such as it is, to these shores. As al Sadr recently said, he wants a timetable for the Americans to leave. That is their goal. If you do not build it, they will not come.

Do Americans agree that somehow we should continue to sacrifice our service people on the altar of our never-ending war which we have chosen to pitch in Iraq? That somehow, by throwing bodies to the lions, we are necessarily slaking al Q.'s hunger? And did our volunteer Army know they were being hired on to serve as metal magnets and flak jackets for America?

Townsend is skilled like the entire crew at conflating concepts. When asked, "Will Iraq energize the broader Sunni community," Townsend said, "In every past conflict, our enemies used images from the battlefield. . ."

I entered mid-clip, presuming this was the usual author or reporter interview. After 30 seconds, I wanted to throw whoever this woman was to the floor, so unlikable and shamelessly evasive was the swill she was dishing. How naive not to presume such distastefulness would have to be emerging from an administration shill.

--Lisa