[I was talking to a Muslim co-worker of mine the other day about Iraq. He said to me, that if the USA abandons Iraq, it will be the most incredible adrenalim rush the Muslims have ever had. He said it would be a HUGE VICTORY for them.

The terrorists are pulling out all the stops as they see the USA and Britain wavering about staying in the country. So what will George Bush do? If he pulls out, the Iraqi government and its military forces may be overwhelmed. So does George Bush push up his troop commitments?

In what way is this different to Vietnam?

2 years ago, I said that the whole issue is staying the distance – will Americans be able to put up with mind-numbing terror which just goes on and on and on. It is only 2 years, and American morale is shaky.

In Vietnam, 50,000 Americans died before the USA called it a day. Here in Iraq, less than 2,000 have died, and America is wavering. The terrorists are sensing victory.

When the USA beefed up South Vietnam, and then left, it was only a matter of time before they collapsed. In Iraq, it is no different. When US troops go, the place falls apart. So George Bush is now in a quandry.

My theory, which I floated 2 years ago was this: That 9/11, etc had as its military aim, pulling the USA into a low intensity war which would stretch its resources, wear down morale, and ultimately set it up for real defeat. And it looks to me as if the USA is already at that cross roads.

George Bush’s “war on terror” could become a great defeat if people lose their nerve. I have said many times, if a war is worth fighting, then it must be fought with energy.

To truly defeat terrorism requires a lot of violence. Terrorism and guerilla warfare are the most difficult types of war to fight. It is not easy, and it is not pretty.

The Iraq war is a mess, and the Middle East is now in a worse state than it was before. It appears to me, the terrorists are starting to win, and they are spreading across the globe. Terrorism is far from over. The terrorists are warming up nicely… These wars could carry on for the next 30 years and cause untold damage and suffering. The terrorists are now spreading into Africa from where they are starting to operate. The Western world will yet feel the full force of Muslim terrorism as invented and sponsored by the KGB. Jan]

IRAQ is slipping into all-out civil war, a Shia leader declared yesterday, as a devastating onslaught of suicide bombers slaughtered more than 150 people, most of them Shias, around the capital at the weekend.

One bomber killed almost 100 people when he blew up a fuel tanker south of Baghdad, an attack aimed at snapping Shia patience and triggering the full-blown sectarian war that al-Qaeda has been trying to foment for almost two years.

Iraq™s security forces have been overwhelmed by the scale of the suicide bombings ” 11 on Friday alone and many more over the weekend ” ordered by the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

œWhat is truly happening, and what shall happen, is clear: a war against the Shias, Sheikh Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, a prominent Shia cleric and MP, told the Iraqi parliament.

Sheikh al-Saghir is close to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the supreme Shia spiritual leader and moderate who has so far managed to restrain powerful Shia militias from undertaking any outright attack on Sunni insurgents. His warning suggests that the Shia leadership may be losing its grip over Shias who in private often call for an armed backlash against their Sunni assailants.

The sheikh also cautioned Sunni clerics supporting the insurgency against American forces and the Shia-Kurdish Government elected in January. œI am very keen to preserve the Sunni blood that would be shed due to the irrational acts of some of their leaders, who do not see that they are leading the country into civil war, he told the national assembly.

On the streets of Baghdad, al-Zarqawi™s al-Qaeda organisation in Iraq unleashed one suicide bomber after another and promised no respite.

œThe Hassan Ibrahim al-Zaidi attack continues for the second day in a row, with rigged cars, martyrdom attacks and clashes, an al-Qaeda internet statement said. œWe warn the enemies of God of more to come. One of the suicide bombers, a Libyan, was arrested at the mass funerals of 32 Shia children killed last week by a car bomber.

But the worst attack occurred in the mixed town of Musaib, in the area south of Baghdad known as the Triangle of Death, when a fuel tanker blew up in a crowded market near a mosque on Saturday evening. The death toll rose to 98 yesterday, making it one the deadliest attacks yet.

Relatives searched the shattered market for the body parts of missing loved ones. œI saw a lot of burnt bodies after the explosion and many people throwing their children from the windows and balconies because the buildings were on fire, Ammar al-Qaragouli said.

Iraqi soldiers have set up checkpoints to try to rein in the bombers, only to become sitting ducks. Two dozen more people died yesterday in four suicide bombings targeting US and Iraqi security forces.

At least one desperate parliamentarian called for the population to form local militias to defend their neighbourhoods ” a move that many see as prelude to a sectarian war.

œThe plans of the Interior and Defence ministries to impose security in Iraq have failed to stop the terrorists. We need to bring back popular security committees, Khudair al-Khuzai, a senior parliamentarian who claimed that 50 fellow MPs supported him, said. But with the streets of Baghdad seething with fear, anger and rumours of impending conflict, confidence in anything that the Government says has plummeted. A poll in the state-sponsored al-Sabah newspaper indicated that 51 per cent of Iraqis see the Government™s performance as weak, while only 32 per cent approved. Fuelling the sectarian tension, leaflets are being distributed in southern Baghdad threatening named Shia œcollaborators with execution. Increasingly hardline Shia militias, such as the outlawed Mahdi Army of the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, are patrolling large parts of Baghdad, often rounding up suspected Sunni insurgents and imprisoning or even killing them. With the country in turmoil, much of the Government, including Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Shia Prime Minister, was on a landmark trip to try to repair relations with Iran, where President Khatami hailed a œturning point in relations between the neighbours. He promised that his country would do all in its power to rebuild Iraq. But closer ties with Iran™s Shia theo- cracy has alarmed Iraqi Sunnis, who accuse Iran of interfering.

John Reid, the British Defence Secretary, told CNN yesterday that Britain could start to reduce its troop levels in Iraq over the next 12 months. He said that neither Britain nor America had any imperialist ambitions and were anxious that Iraqi forces should assume responsibility for security.

Mr Reid spoke as a report issued yesterday by Chatham House and the Economic and Social Research Council, two British think-tanks, said that British lives had been lost in Iraq and elsewhere because it was seen as œriding pillion with the United States.
The Iraq war œgave a boost to the al-Qaeda network™s propaganda, recruitment and fundraising, caused a major split in the coalition, provided an ideal targeting and training area for al-Qaeda-linked terrorists and deflected resources and assistance that could have been used to . . . bring (Osama) bin Laden to justice, it said.

72 HOURS OF VIOLENCE

Friday 10 suicide car bombers kill 26 people and wound more than 100 in apparently co-ordinated attacks on US and Iraqi forces

Saturday At least 107 people killed and 185 injured in 5 suicide bombings, including the fuel tanker explosion that left 98 dead

Sunday Bombers kill 19 and wound more than 14 in 4 suicide attacks around Baghdad

Source: Times Online (UK)
URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-…/p>