Fighting Them There AND Here

So I guess I would rather fight them [the terrorists] there [in Iraq] than here. I know I would rather fight them there than here, and I know would rather fight them there than in other remote parts of the world, where it may be more difficult to find them.
- US President George W. Bush on preventing future terrorist attacks on Western cities

With this logic, if we start building dirty hospitals, we can fight germs on our terms.
-A poster on a web board called "America's Debate."


I would like to take this moment to offer my condolences to those who lost loved ones in this morning's bomb attacks in London.

The latest numbers show 37 dead and over 700 injured in coordinated blasts targetting subways and a double-decker bus.

A group calling itself Secret Organization-Al Qaeda in Europe claimed responsibility for the attacks. According to the group's statement, the attacks were in response to "massacres Britain committed in Iraq and Afghanistan."

According to President Bush, the invasion of Iraq was supposed to draw the terrorists into battle. As the logic went, if we're fighting them in Iraq, they can't launch attacks on Western cities. Furthermore, it was supposed to draw terrorists to where they could be more easily fought, where they can be fought on our terms, not their's. This has been dubbed the "flypaper strategy." Not only has this strategy failed, as this morning's attacks and last March's attacks on Madrid tragically demonstrated, it now appears that Iraq has become a seasoning ground for would-be terrorists, much like Afghanistan was during the Soviet occupation. Skeptics of the strategy have always said this would happen. Now a CIA report supports their view.

So not only has fighting terrorists "there" not prevented having to fight them "here," it has given the terrorists another reason to attack Western targets, served as a recruiting tool for them, and provided them with a ready-made training ground.

Oops.