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Metastasizing Terror

Lately, in an effort to scare monger support for the war in Iraq, the Bush administration has been playing the Al-Qaeda trump card so much they are wearing out the edges. Claims of "follow us home" and "bases from which to launch new attacks from" have been invoked in recent speeches. All are meant to be a warning of the consequences should the US withdraw.

But we've also learned the consequences of our staying.
Think of what has happened in only the last week in the Middle East. In northern Lebanon, in the long-established Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, out of the blue arose a new al Qaeda-related insurgent group, Fatah al-Islam. Within days and even hours, the recurring hell of the Middle East was loosed, and refugees poured out of the camp in terror...

[T]hat Iraq, where we were supposed to be "containing terrorism," is now clearly exporting insurgents to other regions – to Lebanon, to Syria, to Gaza, to Bangladesh, to Kurdistan.

And so, on the one hand, you have weakened societies vulnerable to the "new answers" of "new insurgencies," and on the other hand, you have Iraq set up as a school for terrorists with American troops and policy providing the constant inspiration for their fight.

The Bush administration's approach to terrorism has been one of hacking off limbs in the hopes it will go away. Unfortunately for all of us, the terror cancer has metastasized to the point that we may not be able to stop the spreading no matter what we do.

(Filed at State of the Day)