Iraq jihadists potentially worse than al-Qaeda: CIA

Remember back in the day when the Bush administration claimed that the Iraq war would make us safer? Remember how they said that the aggression was essential to the so-called war on terrorism, how it was critical to eliminating Islamist extremism?

Like so many other things, they were wrong.

The war in Iraq is creating a new breed of Islamic jihadists who could go on to destabilise other countries, according to a CIA report, reports the British daily The Guardian.

Of course, this is precisely what many of us predicted BEFORE the war, but saw our warnings dismissed as the rantings of 'wimpy lefty peaceniks.'

No one likes an 'I told you so' but given the almost profane eagerness many Americans had for this aggression, it's worth reminding that discresion is the better part of valor. Maybe the next time our Leader proposes a controversial war, we can have a real debate, like they had in Britain, rather than poor substitutes like flag waving and ribbon wearing.

Worryingly, the extremists are becoming more sophisticated in their methods to maximize death and destruction, especially against civilians.

While the number of Iraq attacks have diminished, they have become more deadly. More than 1,000 Iraqis and 120 US soldiers have been killed since the new Iraqi cabinet was formed in April.

Insurgents once again demonstrated their capacity for inflicting carnage on civilians when they detonated four cars bombs in western Baghdad last night, killing at least 23 people and injuring around 50. At least one was driven by a suicide bomber.

Most disturbingly:

The CIA believes Iraq to be potentially worse than Afghanistan, which produced thousands of jihadists in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the recruits to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida had fought in Afghanistan.

So the Iraq created by President Bush has the potential to be even more dangerous than the Afghanistan that breeded Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.

Could someone please explain again to me the logic of this invasion?

Given the extremely dangerous situation in the Iraq created by our commander-in-chief, it's nice to know that Congress is focused on non-issues like flag burning.