The Iraq Trap

Just finished reading Loretta Napoleoni's book 'Insurgent Iraq: al Zarqawi and the New Generation' – Its a very good read and I'd highly recommend it. It chillings records the trap that Iraq is. When, in 2003, Colin Powell went to the UN to declare that al Zarqawi was the link between Saddam and al Qaeda as a pretext for war, he was wrong...so wrong. Yes al Zarqawi was in Baghdad, but not to hang out with Saddam, rather to built a network for the coming trap that he (correctly) believed Iraq would become for the US. He saw in 2001 that the US would end up in Iraq and got to work preparing. He saw (correctly) that a unified nationalist resistance of Sunni and Shiite would push his jihadists out and so they would miss the change to enlarge the war beyond Iraq. He saw (correctly) that the US would come to rely on local death squads (aka 'The Salvador Option') so driving the country towards civil war. He was always thinking global, thus he was not the head of 'al Qaeda in Iraq' – this is a mistranslation – he was emir of 'al-Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers' – a reference to the larger Islamic state they wish to create.

After reading the book it made me think they Bliar and Bu$h have both been following a script without either checking who wrote it or how it ends. Iraq was a baited trap that began on September 11th 2001, who's metal jaws clamped shut when the coalition of the few invaded.

The book has the following statement, "Even if he is caught and killed, the insurgency will not stop. On the contrary, his capture or death would enlarge his myth and strengthen his legacy."

The bombing has completed his circle.