Connie Dean – 9/26/04

This page was last updated on September 26, 2004.

Iraqi terrorism not on list; Connie Dean; Beaver County Times; September 26, 2004.

Once again Ms. Dean repeats a bunch of anti-Bush talking points, this time focusing on Iraq.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I read with interest the Sept. 16 letter titled ‘Don’t doubt the war on terrorism’ in which the letter writer named at least 12 instances of atrocities committed by radical Islamic terror groups.

“However, none of the acts mentioned had anything to do with Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Iraq is and has been a secular nation under the brutal rule of Saddam, who has been criticized by Islamic fundamentalists for being secular and not very religious.”

[RWC] Let me get this straight. Iraq is secular and therefore doesn’t harbor terrorism? Though Islamic fascists are probably the largest current source of terrorism, they aren’t the only terrorists “on the block.”

In any case, the claim that “none of the acts mentioned had anything to do with Saddam Hussein and Iraq” is incorrect. As discussed below, Iraq had ties to the 1993 World Trade Center (WTC) bombing. In the case of the Achille Lauro hijacking, U.S. Special Forces captured the mastermind, Abu Abbas, in Baghdad during April 2003.

“Also, as has been proven, Iraq had nothing to do with Sept. 11, 2001. If Bush wanted to invade a country that harbors, funds and trains terrorists, he should have invaded Saudi Arabia, or Pakistan, or Iran, or Yemen, or Syria, etc., etc.”

[RWC] President Bush never claimed Iraq had anything to do with 9/11. Indeed, the Bush administration always said there was no indication Iraq was involved. Concluding, however, that Iraq didn’t harbor, fund, and train terrorists is a lie. Where do you think at least one of the 1993 WTC bombers, Abdul Rahman Yasin, wound up? The convicted chief conspirator of the WTC bombing, Ramzi Yousef, arrived using an Iraqi passport. What about the terrorist training camps we found during the early weeks of the invasion? Were they really Iraqi Boy Scout camps? Hussein even paid $25,000 rewards to the relatives of Palestinian homicide bombers. Some of the victims were Americans.

But Ms. Dean would have us attack a country like Pakistan that was and is actively helping us round up al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan? Don’t get me wrong; I have no love for the likes of most Middle East countries, but some are/were more menacing than others.

Ms. Dean, please read the Iraq War Resolution for the reasons we took action against Iraq.

“Now, more than 1,000 American lives have been lost, and at least $200 billion has been spent so far - for what? The Iraqi people hate us, and no matter what they say today, they would turn on us in a second. The Middle East is less stable and we are not safer from terrorists.”

[RWC] I’ll respond to this with a John Kerry quote from December 16, 2003, at Drake University in Iowa. “Those who doubted whether Iraq or the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein, and those who believe we are not safer with his capture, don’t have the judgment to be President or the credibility to be elected President.” Mr. Kerry was right.

As a country, the Iraqis neither love nor hate us. They want to govern themselves and we want that as well. That said, Iraqis also know they need American help until we can get Iraq’s security capability built up.

“The current administration has also insulted and demeaned our former allies so we can expect no help from them.

“That was a huge mistake because the real war on terror is worldwide, and we need cooperation.”

[RWC] How has the Bush administration “insulted and demeaned our former allies?” Provide the proof. As you’ll read in a John Kerry quote below, it is he who insults and demeans true allies.

“Our former allies cannot support us in Iraq even if they want to or they risk committing political suicide in their own countries. Arrogance on the part of this administration has caused this, and it is very costly.”

[RWC] It’s amazing how folks like Ms. Dean focus on “former allies” but ignore and sometimes berate the allies with us in Iraq. In Ms. Dean’s eyes, alleged friends who oppose us are righteous but those who make sacrifices to stand beside us are, as described by John Kerry, a “trumped-up, so-called coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought, and the extorted.”¹ Does anyone care to guess how the “bribed and coerced” would respond to John Kerry if he were elected?

“I don’t know anyone who doubts that there is a war on terror; however, what the Bush administration is doing in Iraq only serves as a terrorist recruitment tool and does nothing to advance our cause in the worldwide war on terror.”

[RWC] If you believe Iraq was a peaceful nation in which carefree children ran through fields of flowers flying kites, then you believe Ms. Dean.

For what it is worth, I prefer the idea of terrorists focusing on Iraq. That way terrorists have to do battle with our military instead of defenseless civilians.

1. Kerry: Bush should bend on Iraq; Thomas Beaumont; The Des Moines Register; March 9, 2003.