MORE FROM KRAUTPOT

Charles Krauthammer had another moronic op-ed today: Real war on terror is in Iraq, not Afghanistan. (That's the title in my hometown newspaper. The ClownHall version has a different one.)

Krautpot criticizes the assumption that "the world's one superpower, which spends more on defense every year than the rest of the world combined does not have the capacity to fight an insurgency in Iraq as well as in Afghanistan. " [Italics in original]

There is a MASSIVE amount of evidence that we can't fight in both Afghan and Iraq that Krautpot simply ignores. He also ignores the nature of the fight in Iraq, again parroting the GOP line that it is part of the war on terror:

Thought experiment: Bring in a completely neutral observer -- a Martian -- and point out to him that the United States is involved in two hot wars against radical Islamic insurgents.

Not in Iraq, Charles:

GEN. MAPLES:

In Iraq, the conflict is unquestionably complex and difficult.
The fight to define post-Saddam Iraq has been primarily an intra-Arab
struggle to determine how power and authority will be distributed.

Iraqi nationalists, Ba'athists, former military, angry Sunni
jihadists, foreign fighters and al Qaeda provide an overlapping,
complex and multipolar Sunni insurgent and terrorist environment.
Shi'a militias, Shi'a militants and extensive criminal activity
further contribute to violence, instability and insecurity.

Attacks by terrorist groups, like al Qaeda in Iraq, account for
only a fraction of the insurgent violence.

SOURCE:

Copyright 2006 Federal News Service, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Federal News Service
November 15, 2006 Wednesday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING
LENGTH: 18070 words
HEADLINE: PANEL II OF A HEARING OF THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE;
SUBJECT: CURRENT SITUATION AND U.S. MILITARY OPERATIONS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN;
CHAIRED BY: SENATOR JOHN WARNER (R-VA);
WITNESSES: LIEUTENANT GENERAL (U.S. ARMY) MICHAEL D. MAPLES, DIRECTOR, DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY; GENERAL MICHAEL V. HAYDEN (U.S. AIR FORCE), DIRECTOR, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY;
LOCATION: SH-216, HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.