Senate report concludes: no proof of contact between

[kandrathe]

To clear up a few things.

1. Zarqawi was in Iraq before the invasion but not as a guest. Saddam tried to have him arrested but didn't catch him. Zarqawi was in a part of Iraqi-Kurdistan controlled by Ansar ul Islam.

2. The Fedayeen Saddam were a militia recruited from comitted members of the Baath party who were to serve as the first line of defence against a Shia uprising, they were a purely internal Iraqi force.

3. Saddam gave money and vocal support to several Palestinian factions. Just like the Saudis and a lot of other Arabs who have good relations with the US.

As regards the strategic situation in Iraq: The US has lost! Iraq will never become a pro-western, peaceful, united country.(The NeoCons must have been smoking some really heavy stuff when one considers their expectations for the future development in Iraq) Basically the US has two options:

1. Complete withdrawal with the locals settling their differences without American casualties. The result would either be acomplete chaos or an Iraq split between the Shi'ites, Sunnis and the Kurds.

or

2. Assist the Shi'ites in an allout assault on the Sunnis and crush them as a relevant force. The result would be a Shia dominated Iraq but sooner or later the differences beteween Arabs and Persians would emerge and Teheran would have no leverage in Iraq.

But with everybody looking at Iraq it seems to have escaped most people that the situation in Afghanistan is going to hell in a handcart. If Afghanistan is lost the whole region will be infected again. Pakistan would be especially vulnerable to an islamic takeover and Pakistan has nukes.

These are your views. It would be as hard for you to prove Zarqawi had no Saddam blessing, as it would be for me to prove he did have it. I documented the trail here in the lounge once, but since it was complicated, no one followed it, or maybe no one believed it.

edit: Found it. link The whole "Wow Kerry..." thread is worth a re-read. Since we are rehashing old ground 2 1/2 years later and not much has really changed other than the fog of time it seems.

I have seen evidence to the contrary for your points 1, 2 and 3. As, for the Fedayeen Saddam. My understanding is that they were yes, fanatical, and yes, and internal security force, but also paramilitary trained as guerilla fighters to use asymetrical tactics. I've seen evidence that links the bus loads of fighters from Lebanon and Syria to Fedayeen commanders. As for 3, he did much more than just send money to the families of dead terrorists.