Al-Qaeda in Iraq is not the issue
At RedState, Pejman takes Andrew Sullivan to task for an assertion that McCain would withdraw troops from Iraq. I am not defending Andrew's assertion (if anything, the opposite seems more likely, that Obama will not withdaw from Iraq, nor would any Democratic president). However, Pejman makes the following statement in the course of his argument:
is simply misinformed. No one who reads Michael Yon or Michael Totten on a regular basis will believe that Al Qaeda will ever be able to reconstitute itself in Iraq, not with the infrastructure (weak and fledgling though it remains at present) of the Iraqi forces and the tribes. Whatever leverage AQ-Iraq had in the past has been squandered and they are hated fiercely.
Afghanistan is another matter, and there is where the true danger of a reconstituted AQ indeed lies, which is why our losing the war there in slow motion (as Yon has powerfully argued) is now our more pressing concern. The mainstream media has been dutifully reporting the truth about how dangerous and unstable Afghanistan is as well. On that score, I think Obama does indeed outperform McCain (who is too Iraq-centric).
al Qaeda will consolidate itself in an anarchic Iraq and use it as a staging ground for the next terrifying attack on the United States and on American interests--think Afghanistan in the run-up to 9/11
is simply misinformed. No one who reads Michael Yon or Michael Totten on a regular basis will believe that Al Qaeda will ever be able to reconstitute itself in Iraq, not with the infrastructure (weak and fledgling though it remains at present) of the Iraqi forces and the tribes. Whatever leverage AQ-Iraq had in the past has been squandered and they are hated fiercely.
Afghanistan is another matter, and there is where the true danger of a reconstituted AQ indeed lies, which is why our losing the war there in slow motion (as Yon has powerfully argued) is now our more pressing concern. The mainstream media has been dutifully reporting the truth about how dangerous and unstable Afghanistan is as well. On that score, I think Obama does indeed outperform McCain (who is too Iraq-centric).
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