Engram over at Back Talk has posted an extensive piece on why the liberal media and Surrendercrats are, to be kind as possible, ignorant of what they speak regarding al-Qaeda and Iraq. Engram’s piece notes how al-Qaeda shifted its forces and suicide bombers to Iraq in 2003 and has been the foreign force in country trying to create strife – contrary to all the ‘reporting’ from the antique media. Some excellent snippets:

As I have said before, you should not hold a strong opinion about Iraq if you haven’t investigated the role played by al Qaeda (in particular, the role played by al Qaeda’s suicide bombers). Steve Chapman has obviously put very little thought into this matter, and his apparent lack of curiosity allows him to think as he does.

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In Iraq, al Qaeda’s suicide bombers are extremely deadly, and they have been that way for a long time (as I have documented relentlessly). What’s the story with al Qaeda in Afghanistan? Chapman seems not to have noticed that al Qaeda is barely even operative there because Osama bin Laden sent his suicide bombers to Iraq instead. In Afghanistan, the Taliban (not al Qaeda) use suicide bombers as well, but, unlike the suicide bombers of Iraq, they are largely incompetent, as this UN report notes:

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The incompetent suicide bombers of Afghanistan come mostly from Pakistan. The vastly more competent suicide bombers of Iraq come from all over the Muslim world, as this article in the New York Times explained.

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In other words, the suicide bombers of Iraq are deadly, they come from many foreign countries, and they target innocent Shiite civilians. By contrast, the suicide bombers of Afghanistan are not particularly deadly, they come from across the border in Pakistan, and they don’t target civilians.

Engram has a long list of antique media sources and government sources that show – if you do the analysis as Engram has – that al-Qaeda is deep in Iraq and its deadliest enemy – as this statistic notes:

Based on the Sinjar records, U.S. military officials in Iraq said they now think that nine out of 10 suicide bombers have been foreigners, compared with earlier estimates of 75 percent.

This is a must read and must keep piece. It should be referenced every time a liberal challenges the idea Iraq’s current battles are with al-Qaeda’s foreign fighters. BTW, Engram was a liberal prior to 9-11 and has had his world view totally re-oriented since. Reminds me of my own transformation when Reagan was President