I think there is one thing that nobody before Iraq or currently wants to discuss. One of the biggest obstacles we face in Iraq is our relationship with Israel. Is this why the current violence in Fallujah happened, Deaths of Americans in Fallujah: In revenge for Sharon's Murder of Sheikh Yassin?:

You put yourself in the shoes of an American military commander in Fallujah. He treats with the local clan leaders and Sunni clergy. He tries to get them on the side of the US. He faces hostility, but he is making some progress. And then Ariel Sharon sends US-made helicopter gunships to Gaza and has them fire missiles at people coming out of a mosque, killing 8 and wounding 24. One of the dead is a half-blind paraplegic Islamist named Sheikh Yassin. He could have easily been arrested, and had been in the 1990s. But he was incinerated in a piece of state terror instead. And all of a sudden the people of Fallujah in Iraq are pointing their fingers at the American troops and saying, 'you did this. You gave Sharon the green light.' And all the commander's hard work in building bridges collapses over night. And four US security personnel are dead, and 5 US troops are dead, and the fighting flares up. Thanks, Prime Minister Sharon. Thank you very much.

Now I said yesterday that these people are not terrorists. I still don't think in the classic sense they are. Killing innocent civilians makes you a terrorist. Whether they are terrorists or not is irrelevant now. These people see us and Israel as one and when you are trying to "democratize" a Middle Eastern country that does not help.

Remember this from earlier in the week?
Iraq War Launched to Protect Israel - Bush Adviser
IPS uncovered the remarks by Philip Zelikow, who is now the executive director of the body set up to investigate the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001 -- the 9/11 commission -- in which he suggests a prime motive for the invasion just over one year ago was to eliminate a threat to Israel, a staunch U.S. ally in the Middle East.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 6:29 AM