Al Qaeda in Iraq

A Well Coordinated Bombing

Mosul is a city in Iraq. The western part of Mosul is populated by the Yazidi sect. The people of this sect are considered infidels by the Sunnis. The morning after a well coordinated bombing in western Mosul it is obvious that the perpetrators are Sunni fundamentalists. These vile terrorists are taking advantage of the chaos reigning in Iraq to strike at whoever they don't like. Although car bombs are used as a terrorist tool all over the world, in Iraq, it would seem that it is all too easy to deploy several trucks full of gasoline in a massive terrorist strike. The results of this horror are over two hundred dead.

Blaming Al Qaeda

Since it is the job of the United States military forces to keep the peace in Iraq, it is also their privilege to place the blame for such terrorist attacks. The official U.S. claim is that the terrorists responsible belong to the Sunni group known as Al Qaeda. The truth is, that there are daily terrorist strikes but only the really big ones are reported. Even now, in the news, the only strikes being discussed are those where over 150 people were killed. The smaller ones do not even spark any interest in the media. Al Qaeda is blamed because they are viewed as the extremist fundamentalist Sunni terrorist organisation. Not only that, Al Qaeda is also known as being skilled at organising big terrorist strikes which kill many.

Iraqi Troubles are Far From Over

Invasion Problems

When the US invaded Iraq, it was deemed an absolute necessity. However, as opposed to the previous invasion, where the results were quickly achieved and with minimum casualties, this invasion has encountered many problems. The first problem encountered was the fact that the invasion was too successful. With the collapse of the Iraqi regime, peaceful ruling in Iraq became impossible. The reign of oppression and terror imposed by Saddam Hussein was replaced with a reign of anarchy and terror that cannot be overcome with simple force. The significance of this is that the US military forces in Iraq are constantly under fire and taking casualties. The US military is designed for military operations and wars it is not trained or designed for dealing with terrorist attacks and guerrilla warfare.

Pulling Out Problems

It would seem that faced with these problems the wise thing would be to pull out of Iraq as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, there are many problems with this solution. The first, is that the result of such a withdrawal would be immediate collapse of whatever order has already been imposed. The second problem is that a withdrawal could be viewed as a failure of the US. This failure would be in the eyes of the Muslim population as well as in the eyes of the American public. Pulling out would also mean jeopardising US interests in the area. Specifically the oil interests (which got the US into the mess in the first place).

The Only Hope

It would seem like the only hope left for the US is that they will somehow be able to create a situation where the locals manage to take charge of the situation and then slowly pull out. This doesn't seem very likely to occur any time soon. We can only hope that a peaceful resolution is indeed somewhere in the making.

In Defence of the US

Keeping a Cool Head

In the face of escalation of the terrorist alert in Britain the US have not changed their alert status. Although I have written previously why it would seem like complacency on the part of the US, I have also written that there are two sides to the same coin. Now I would like to play the Devil's advocate and demonstrate why such a policy is the best answer to terrorism. I'd like to argue that keeping a cool head in the face of world wide terror panic might possibly be the best thing to do. Perhaps this is the consideration that the leaders of the US had in mind when they decided not to increase security measures.

The Essence of Terror

The whole point of terrorist attacks is to instill fear in the population. If people live in fear, not knowing when or where the next attack will come, then the terrorists are achieving their goal. Terrorism is a way for a weak minority to bully a much larger population. Much like coping with the class bully, it is often best to ignore him. Another goal of terrorism is to exhaust a great deal of the terrorised people's resources while using very little resources. If hundreds of thousands of people are delayed by various security protocols than the terrorists have again achieved their goal. Standing brave in the face of terrorism and leading lives that are as close to normal as possible. If the US are increasing their vigilance without formally announcing an alert, than they are showing the terrorist that their acts of violence are insignificant and frighten no one. At the same time they are really watching for the first move that would indicate the need for an immediate preemptive move. This method also aims to exhaust as few resources as possible while still containing the potential damage of terror. If that is the reasoning, all I can say is: Good luck USA!