Everyone we fight in Iraq is now "al-Qaida"!

[zengrifter]

Glenn Greenwald
Saturday June 23, 2007 07:47 EST

Everyone we fight in Iraq is
now "al-Qaida"

Josh Marshall publishes an e-mail from a reader who identifies what is one of the most astonishing instances of mindless, pro-government "reporting" yet:

It's a curious thing that, over the past 10 - 12 days, the news from Iraq refers to the combatants there as "al-Qaida" fighters. When did that happen?

Until a few days ago, the combatants in Iraq were "insurgents" or they were referred to as "Sunni" or "Shia'a" fighters in the Iraq Civil War. Suddenly, without evidence, without proof, without any semblance of fact, the US military command is referring to these combatants as "al-Qaida".

Welcome to the latest in Iraq propaganda.

That the Bush administration, and specifically its military commanders, decided to begin using the term "Al Qaeda" to designate "anyone and everyeone we fight against or kill in Iraq" is obvious. All of a sudden, every time one of the top military commanders describes our latest operations or quantifies how many we killed, the enemy is referred to, almost exclusively now, as "Al Qaeda."

...more - http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwa...6/23/al_qaeda/

[Brutus]

The image conjured up using "Al Qaeda" seems diabolical.
"Sunni" on the other hand seems like a peaceful band of hippies.

[MEDITANK]

Originally Posted by Brutus

The image conjured up using "Al Qaeda" seems diabolical.
"Sunni" on the other hand seems like a peaceful band of hippies.

Doesn't really matter, they are both camel jockys. When Bed, Bath and Beyond has a bedsheet sale, you know where to find them all.

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by MEDITANK

Doesn't really matter, they are both camel jockys. When Bed, Bath and Beyond has a bedsheet sale, you know where to find them all.

Borderline anti-semitic slur. Watch it. zg

[MEDITANK]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

Borderline anti-semitic slur. Watch it. zg

Ahhhhh, not really. Israelites don't wear Bed Bath and Beyond clothing. Nice try though.

[zengrifter]

Bush plays al Qaida card to bolster support for Iraq policy
By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Facing eroding support for his Iraq policy, even among Republicans, President Bush on Thursday called al Qaida "the main enemy" in Iraq, an assertion rejected by his administration's senior intelligence analysts.

The reference, in a major speech at the Naval War College that referred to al Qaida at least 27 times, seemed calculated to use lingering outrage over the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to bolster support for the current buildup of U.S. troops in Iraq, despite evidence that sending more troops hasn't reduced the violence or sped Iraqi government action on key issues.

Bush called al Qaida in Iraq the perpetrator of the worst violence racking that country and said it was the same group that had carried out the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

...more - http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/17471.html

[zengrifter]

Fib factory running full tilt
White House tells some whoppers in bid to depict wars
as battles against al-Qaida

By ERIC MARGOLIS | Sun, July 15, 2007

The latest whoppers from the White House's fib factory came this week as President George W. Bush (A) claimed U.S. forces in Iraq are fighting "the same people" who staged 9/11, and, (B) withdrawing U.S. forces means "surrendering Iraq to al-Qaida."

These absurd assertions mark the latest steps in the administration's evolving efforts to depict the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as battles against al-Qaida.

...more - http://torontosun.canoe.ca/News/Colu...40909-sun.html