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By M'Hamed Ben Youssef

June 27-July 3 Issue

Tunis Hebdo - Page (French)    

Things are getting worse and worse in Iraq where, according to an official report from the American Central Intelligence Agency – in flagrant contradiction to the optimistic declarations of the Republican administration – this country is becoming, if it isn’t already, a “big guerilla training school.”

According to leaked information from the report, the jihadists fighting the GIs are more dangerous than ever and are increasingly reinforcing themselves with high-tech equipment and men coming from both the Arab-Muslim world and from Europe. These are veritable international brigades made up of intrepid Islamic fighters of different nationalities that arrive in the country of the Tigris and Euphrates in order to fight the American occupiers. In this way, they are following their elders who succeeded, in the 1980s in toppling the Soviets in Afghanistan. We predicted the rise of the Arab brigades in these pages immediately following the fall of Baghdad.

The essential difference between the Afghan and Iraqi guerillas is that the former were and remain classically rural, while the latter is urban and much more sophisticated, with unexpected technological prowess.

The automobile, which has always been meant to shorten distances, has become the most dangerous weapon of the poor. Stuffed with explosives, the damaging effects are terrifying, even more so because the insurgents are consistently innovating in this area of terror by using, among others, materials able to pierce all sorts of armor and resorting to infrared technology to ignite them, in order to get around the scrambling of radio signals.

These constant improvements in guerilla techniques are surprising and are discouraging the [U.S.] Marines, who are suffering increasingly heavy losses. One thousand seven killed as of today, while nonofficial channels say it is five times more. No fewer than seven hundred attacks by remote controlled mines were counted in May alone! Just last Wednesday – and in only twelve hours – seven car bombs killed a total of 35 people and wounded 110 others.

American public opinion could not remain indifferent forever to so much bloodshed, both among innocent Iraqis and amongst the ranks of the GIs, after having given carte blanche to the evangelical hawks. Today, there is a backlash against Bush and his team. Already, three in five Americans think the war waged against Saddam Hussein was a serious mistake and 60% of them believe that the Marines should be evacuated from the Iraqi hell immediately.

This is a very significant downturn in public opinion that no sensible resident of the White House can long ignore … In addition, Republican senators – not to mention the Democratic opposition – have started to harass the administration on embarrassing issues concerning its lamentable failure in Mesopotamia. A real shift!

Certainly, Bush and company will continue to push stubbornly ahead with the same devastating policy in the Gulf and to accuse, among others, Syria and Iran of aiding the guerillas while reproaching them for doing nothing to promote democracy. But all this is really nothing but a diversion tactic …

Bush will be driven, sooner or later to adjust his aim in order to save face. Furthermore, he has lost much of his calm and serenity. He’s not strutting anymore!

Among the serious consequences of the stupid war led by the Pentagon and its stranglehold on Iraq are:

- The radicalization of Iran, with a massive vote for a young new president known for his fierce opposition to American hegemony in the world and particularly the idea of the “Great Middle East.” The masses seem to prefer the regime of their mullahs with their atomic bomb and the international prestige it gives them to seeing their country trampled and devastated by the Americans like in Iraq.

- The dizzying development of jihadism that is spreading throughout Iraq, including in undefeated Falluja, the martyr where, last Friday, six American soldiers were killed and eleven others wounded.
- A real “guerilla school” – quickly exportable to numerous countries in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia and in the principalities that gravitate around Uncle Sam – has been created.

- Today, America is no safer, at home or abroad, than it was at the time of the World Trade Center attack of September 11, 2001. The international war on terrorism quickly faded to focus on “made in the USA democracy” to be imposed on the Arab countries.

- The United States is in a bad position and its image around the world is now at its lowest, to such an extent that those who love justice, including friends of America, feel offended by its outrageous behavior and its perpetual reckless policy of “two weights and two measures” always to the benefit of Israel, the “favorite child.”

Bush chose the wrong crusade and is currently accentuating the division within his huge country!