al Qaeda Has Been 'Defeated' in Iraq? Since When?

Who is Harold C. Hutchison and what is he smoking?

Why Al Qaeda Is Retreating From Iraq

April 30, 2006: Despite the many brickbats of the media, al Qaeda has been defeated in Iraq, and is now retreating to lick its wounds where it can. If it can. Just over four and a half years, al Qaeda has gone from being the dominant terrorist group in the world to a defeated shell of its former self. In trying to defeat the United States, al Qaeda made three big mistakes: They fought the last information war, they underestimated the American leadership, and they also managed to anger the Iraqi people.

Let's take a look at Hutchison's so-called proof that he asserts backs up his claims. First, the so-called "information war":

After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Fox News began pulling ahead of the other two networks [CNN & MSNBC], largely because it was taking a position that was seen as being reasonably supportive of the American efforts.

Well, that says it all, doesn't it? Mr Hutchison has obviously drunk the right-wing kool-aid in massive amounts that has caused the cognitive dissonance only experienced by bloated Bush supporters. FOX News=patriotic; CNN & MSNBC=terrorist sympathizers.

In 2006, bloggers are now an acknowledged player on the media battlefield. These efforts were dismissed by al Qaeda, and as a result, while al Qaeda hit its target, the effect was grossly minimized due to the fact that the "silent majority" now had tools by which they could be heard. The media created a false picture after the 1968 Tet Offensive, but was unable to do the same in Iraq.

Bloggers were dismissed by al Quaeda? I don't remember reading that press release or hearing OBL proclaim such a victory. Maybe Mr Hutchison has direct al Quaeda sources who are whispering in his right ear. Who knows?

On to proof that Bush's leadership scared al Quaeda right out of Iraq:

Then, when the media firestorms hit, rather than fold as the Clinton Administration did after the CNN images were shown in 1993, the Bush Administration stayed the course. This eventually unnerved al Qaeda, and led to its third, and most fatal, mistake.

The Clinton administration folded? Tell that to Richard Clarke and the thousands of FBI and CIA agents who continued their counterterrorism efforts throughout the days of the Clinton administration - efforts that were ignored by Bush when he took office. Remember that August, 2001 PDB - "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in United States", Hutchison? It was Clinton's fault (just as everything in the known is) that Bush was too busy clearing brush in Crawford to actually consider such a serious threat, right?

Hutchison's third offer of proof that al Quaeda has run scared from Iraq?

The third mistake was to wage a campaign of terror against Iraqi civilians. This was intended to intimidate them into at least acquiescing to al Qaeda's presence, if not supporting al Qaeda at all. It didn't work. Instead, as the car bombs went off , and drew CNN headlines in the United States, al Qaeda managed to become more and more unpopular with Iraqis.

Is there anyone else out there, besides perhaps Michelle Malkin, who believes that al Quaeda would draw Iraqi civilians into their ranks by brutally killing them? Obviously, that's not why they are in Iraq. They seized on the opportunity afforded to them to simply run amok in a country in the throes of mass confusion and saw the chance to continue their jihad against the infidels they so despise.

Note how Hutchison now gives CNN a pass from their former terrorist sympathizer days to now leading the media charge to make al Quaeda "unpopular". What happened to FOX lovin', Hutchison?

Hutchison then concludes victory just as Bush did three years ago today with his "Mission Accomplished" speech. Neither one has a hold on reality.

These three mistakes resulted in the defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq, a defeat has left that group largely discredited. Osama bin Laden is now reduced to making audio tapes with grand pronouncements which have little or no likelihood of ever becoming reality, since al Qaeda has no safe havens where they can train new recruits, nor countries willing to support them. In less than five years, al Qaeda has gone from being feared by the world, to little more than a sideshow in the long war that the United States is now fighting.

A "sideshow"? You'll eat your words the next time your president has to deal with the newest terrorist attack on the United States, Hutchison. It's well-known that al Quaeda waits patiently for years to make major moves that kill hundreds, even thousands of people. To write them off as being "defeated" at this point is a dangerous break from the reality on the ground. al Quaeda is definitely training new recruits - right in Iraq - fertile ground for jihadists who embrace their insane ideology. To dismiss that in the name of claiming yet another faux victory for Bush defies common sense.

Just ask any terrorism expert.

I still don't know who this Hutchison person is because the site doesn't offer any biographical information, but one thing I do know is that, whoever he is, he certainly is not capable of making a convincing argument for his ridiculous claim that al Qaeda has been defeated - in Iraq or anywhere else.