Talking Points Memo has a great interview with terrorism expert Peter Bergen, who disputes the latest line from the Pentagon that Ansar al Islam has set up shop in Baghdad, and completely destroys the persistent mythology that Saddam and Al Qaeda were in cahoots. Part II of the interview will be available later today.
Juan Cole is even more explicit about the new Ansar al Islam pitch:
Abizaid is also saying that terrorism is now replacing hit and run attacks as the most pressing security threat in Iraq, fingering Ansar al-Islam. I have to say I am a little suspicious of this rhetoric. The hit and run attacks have killed more than 60 US soldiers and wounded over 1200 since May 1, whereas the two major terrorist attacks targeted the Jordanian Embassy and the UN HQ. And, for all we know, the UN bombing was carried out by the same sort of people who do the hit and runs when they have access to fewer bombs. Bringing up terrorism seems to me a way to get the US public behind the Iraq endeavor again, since it evokes the threat of more September 11 style attacks. All this is ironic, since the US was not in danger from Iraq to begin with.posted by dack
Another good piece:
Ansar al Islam, in fact, had been waging a brutal war since 2001 against the secular Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The group's leader, Mullah Mustafa Kreker, awaiting refugee status in Norway, scoffed at the alleged links to Al Qaeda.
So did the International Crisis Group, a Belgian-based think tank. It dismissed Ansar as "nothing more than a minor irritant in local Kurdish politics," and added that "it is not surprising that the PUK has sought to emphasize the group's putative terrorist connections."
You're next, Norway!