Expert Says Iraq Will Be A Terrorist Disneyland If Us Leaves, Expert says Iraq will be a Terrorist Disneyland if US leaves Options

[Johnt]

LONDON (Reuters) - A U.S. troop pullout from
Iraq would leave the country as a potent launchpad for international terrorism and Washington would be forced to go back in within a couple of years, a leading al Qaeda expert said on Tuesday.
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Rohan Gunaratna told a security conference at Lloyd's of London insurance market that Iraq, like
Afghanistan in the 1990s, would become a "terrorist Disneyland" where al Qaeda could build up its strength unchallenged.

If U.S., British and other coalition troops withdrew from Iraq in the next year, he said, "certainly the scale of attacks that would be mounted inside Iraq, and using Iraq as a launching pad to strike other Western countries -- countries in Europe, North America - would become such that after two or three years, the U.S. forces will have to go back to Iraq."

The Singapore-based academic and writer said the epicenter of international terrorism had already switched from Afghanistan to Iraq. "In many ways, the terrorist threat has now shifted 1,500 miles closer to Europe."

Republican
President George W. Bush is locked in a standoff with a Democratic-led Congress over funding for the war in Iraq, now in its fifth year, in which more than 3,400 American troops have been killed.

Democrats are pushing for a time frame for withdrawal, something the White House opposes as sending the wrong message to U.S. forces, allies and enemies alike. Some Republicans are also questioning the war more publicly.

Britain, the leading U.S. partner in Iraq, is scaling back its troops there, although the idea of an immediate pullout was rejected this week by Gordon Brown, the man expected to succeed Bush's close ally
Tony Blair as prime minister next month.

Addressing the same conference, a top British security official acknowledged home-grown Islamist militants had exploited the British troop presence in Afghanistan and Iraq for propaganda purposes.

But the official, Sir Richard Mottram, said any decision on withdrawal should be taken based on its impact on the two countries, not its effect on the views of radicals in Britain.

"I'd be very cautious about withdrawing from Afghanistan in circumstances where the field was left to the Taliban," said Mottram, Permanent Secretary for Intelligence, Security and Resilience at the Cabinet Office. He declined comment on Iraq.

A former head of Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6 described Gunaratna's analysis as convincing.

"Clearly al Qaeda are focusing on Iraq now, and focusing on some sort of propaganda victory over the United States," Sir Richard Dearlove told reporters.

"Whether that's an actual victory or not, if they can claim in the Muslim world that they've done well, then that puts us in a very difficult position. This is really an aspect of withdrawal that hasn't been properly considered. That's why I think we can't just let Iraq go its

[MANDA!!!]

OMG!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) That is SO STUIPED!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

This post has been edited by MANDA!!!: May 15 2007, 03:32 PM

[James]

Iraq will be one if they stay and one if they leave.
The US ands UK have made a huge mistake and made the world even more dangerous.
They were warned not to go in ,but greed made them tells lies about WMD etc.
I never fell for the lies.lucky we have the crap like Fox news,who tell the truth.
So many have died for nothing.

[Chris]

OMG!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) That is SO STUIPED!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

The article?

[Derek]

Iraq will be one if they stay and one if they leave.
The US ands UK have made a huge mistake and made the world even more dangerous.

I don't see how any rational person could disagree with what you said there... Iraq has 3 distinct regions with different kind of Muslims. Islam has shown that it really can't get along with anyone, even other members of its own religion. They, meaning the different sects of islam in Iraq, are gonna fight whether the United States is there or not.

If we pulled out tomorrow, they would still be killing each other. The only difference is that our service men and women wouldn't be getting killed also....

After 3,000 deaths and about 20,000 wounded... I think it's time to get the heck out of there....

This post has been edited by Derek: May 16 2007, 11:31 AM

[Laura]

If we pulled out tomorrow, they would still be killing each other. The only difference is that our service men and women wouldn't be getting killed also....

After 3,000 deaths and about 20,000 wounded... I think it's time to get the heck out of there....

I can't believe I'm about to say this as I was FOR the war, but... I completely agree. It's time to get our boys and girls out of that hell hole. Let them kill each other.... this war has been going on for HUNDREDS of years, it will never stop.

[MANDA!!!]

The article?

NO!! what they are saying or whatever!!!

[Daniel]

Might be time to break up the US into smaller countries and states so that each side can have a country to there own, but will that cause agreement with in each new country or state?

Maybe USA of Republicans, USA of Democrats, USA of Mexico and USA of All Others

[Chris]

NO!! what they are saying or whatever!!!

Well I agree. It is beyond time we get out of there and Bush really needs to realize that.

[andrwdmp]

I hate to be a somewhat dissenting voice here, but: 10% of the world's Muslims are fanatics who will use every means available to impose their religion on the world in accordance with a literal reading of the Koran. They wish to make non-Muslims second class citizens and to wipe out the State of Israel. Although people always throw out that low percentage to make you realize that your average Muslim does not sympathize with the movement, there are 1 billion Muslims in the world. This means that there are 100 million fanatics who will continue to try to attack us no matter what we do in Iraq. I have no answers about the war in Iraq, but the war on terror is going to go on for a long time.
Andrew D.

[Randy 22]

I have no hesitancy in saying that the invasion of Iraq was a bad idea, and that the Bush administration did a horrible job of planning how to handle the occupation. That does not necessarily mean that we can simply pull out without unpleasant consequences as a result. I have no confidence in the present adminsitration, but I do not have any in those seeking to win the White House next year either.

[Johnt]

Very well said Andrew.

[DSgamby]

who will use every means available to impose their religion on the world in accordance with a literal reading of the Koran. They wish to make non-Muslims second class citizens

Sound like what the Christians did so long ago if you replaced the Koran with the Bible and non-Muslims with non-Christians.

This post has been edited by DSgamby: May 17 2007, 07:51 AM

[Daniel]

The days of wiping a small country off the map with a bomb are over because these people live all over the world.

It would've been very easy to wipe them out, if they had a country of there own that had nobody else in it.

But sometimes you need to hurt innocent people to get the bad guys, too. I doubt they care about innocent people as much as we do.

Everything is lose, lose in this war now.

[MANDA!!!]

Well I agree. It is beyond time we get out of there and Bush really needs to realize that.

I AGREE 100%!!

[andrwdmp]

Sound like what the Christians did so long ago if you replaced the Koran with the Bible and non-Muslims with non-Christians.

Christianity has evolved much over the centuries and considers it un-Christian to use violence to spread its teachings. On the other hand, the Muslim fundamentalists maintain a medieval mindset, but they have access to 21st century weapons. They also believe that Paradise is the ultimate happiness and that the only certain way to get there is by dying in a holy war (jihad) spreading the Muslim religion. Christianity discourages suicide, but this kind of "martyrdom" for jihad is considered an heroic and sought after form of death. How do you fight such people?
Andrew D.

This post has been edited by andrwdmp: May 18 2007, 01:26 AM

[James]

Iraq will be one if they stay and one if they leave.
The US ands UK have made a huge mistake and made the world even more dangerous.
They were warned not to go in ,but greed made them tells lies about WMD etc.
I never fell for the lies.lucky we have the crap like Fox news,who tell the truth.
So many have died for nothing.

I wrote this 90% asleep. I meant to say lucky we in the UK dont have Fox news,who dont tell the truth.
Iraq will be one mess if we leave and one mess if we stay.

I dont know how the hell i wrote that first stuff,its crap.
We were warned here in the UK not to go in as what it would cause,i kow yous were warend but the likes of Fox didnt report that.

This post has been edited by James: May 18 2007, 04:56 AM

[DSgamby]

Christianity has evolved much over the centuries and considers it un-Christian to use violence to spread its teachings. On the other hand, the Muslim fundamentalists maintain a medieval mindset, but they have access to 21st century weapons. They also believe that Paradise is the ultimate happiness and that the only certain way to get there is by dying in a holy war (jihad) spreading the Muslim religion. Christianity discourages suicide, but this kind of "martyrdom" for jihad is considered an heroic and sought after form of death. How do you fight such people?
Andrew D.

Yes, I agree

I also do not know how to fight these people.

[Laura]

we in the UK dont have Fox news,who dont tell the truth.

I personally think they're the best news source out there. Of course I lean more towards the conservative side of politics. I just can't stand CNN shoving their liberal ideals down my throat.

[Rossum1889]

Iraq will be one if they stay and one if they leave.
The US ands UK have made a huge mistake and made the world even more dangerous.
They were warned not to go in ,but greed made them tells lies about WMD etc.
I never fell for the lies.lucky we have the crap like Fox news,who tell the truth.
So many have died for nothing.

650,000 Iraqi's dead as well as the Americans. We need to get out of there. I did not support Bush, but I gave him a chance, supported the war and he lied to me (and the rest of the country). This was was one of the worst political blunders in the history of this country and was done for self-interest (if that make's sense). I have read four books on this, and every time I read another one I just can't believe the facts.