George and Tony's "Little" War spells Big Trouble

In spite of all the spin from the Bush White House it is becoming obvious to everyone but the hard core Bush cultists that the Iraq war has made the United States and the world less safe not more. The Iraq war has not only become a recruiting aide for jihadists but a veritable graduate school for perfecting and teaching terrorist techniques. The recent bombings in London and Egypt are examples of two separate jihadist goals. The London bombing was designed to produce terror in a western nation while the Egyptian bombing was designed to upset the economy of an "enemy" Islamic regime. As we discussed here another target of the jihadists is the tyrannical House of Saud and there are indications that Saudi Arabia is a target for economic disruption. We are one successful attack on the Saudi oil infrastructure away from rationed six dollar a gallon gasoline. Think about that next time you see an SUV with a George Bush bumper sticker.
Reporter Patrick Cockburn explains that the Iraq debacle is not without historical precedent: This is now an unwinnable conflict

The Duke of Wellington, warning hawkish politicians in Britain against ill-considered military intervention abroad, once said: "Great nations do not have small wars." He meant that supposedly limited conflicts can inflict terrible damage on powerful states. Having seen what a small war in Spain had done to Napoleon, he knew what he was talking about.

The war in Iraq is now joining the Boer War in 1899 and the Suez crisis in 1956 as ill-considered ventures that have done Britain more harm than good. It has demonstrably strengthened al-Qa'ida by providing it with a large pool of activists and sympathisers across the Muslim world it did not possess before the invasion of 2003. The war, which started out as a demonstration of US strength as the world's only superpower, has turned into a demonstration of weakness. Its 135,000-strong army does not control much of Iraq.

But Iraq is different in this respect.

The suicide bombing campaign in Iraq is unique. Never before have so many fanatical young Muslims been willing to kill themselves, trying to destroy those whom they see as their enemies. On a single day in Baghdad this month 12 bombers blew themselves up. There have been more than 500 suicide attacks in Iraq over the last year.

It is this campaign which has now spread to Britain and Egypt. The Iraq war has radicalised a significant part of the Muslim world. Most of the bombers in Iraq are non-Iraqi, but the network of sympathisers and supporters who provide safe houses, money, explosives, detonators, vehicles and intelligence is home-grown.

He goes on to give a description of the deteriorating conditions in Iraq which indicate that the war is lost and concludes with this shot of stark reality.

For future historians Iraq will probably replace Vietnam as the stock example of the truth of Wellington's dictum about small wars escalating into big ones. Ironically, the US and Britain pretended in 2003 that Saddam ruled a powerful state capable of menacing his neighbours. Secretly they believed this was untrue and expected an easy victory.

Now in 2005 they find to their horror that there are people in Iraq more truly dangerous than Saddam, and they are mired in an un-winnable conflict.

So George and Tony's little war to save us from the threats of Saddam has created a "real threat". George and Tony's little war to secure oil is threatening the supply.

Hat tip to LewRockwell.com