MORE ON "THEY WILL FOLLOW US"

On Monday, NPR's All Things Considered had a segment on Pres. Fredo's claim that if we leave Iraq, the terrorists will follow us back to the United States. I've noted before that almost all the experts in this area heavily discount this argument and thanx to Lexis-Nexis, I have the transcript of the ATC segment¹. Here are some relevant excerpts:


WELNA: Just as McCain fought in Vietnam, so did retired Brigadier General John Johns, a national security expert who helped develop counterinsurgency doctrine there. But Johns considers that they'll-follow-us-home warning propaganda. It's actually leaving American forces in Iraq, he says, that increases the chances of a terrorist attack on the U.S.

Mr. JOHN JOHNS (Retired US Brigadier General): The longer we stay there, the more we're going to create people who will volunteer to come here.

"There's no national security analyst that's really credible who thinks that people are going to come from Iraq and attack the United States, that that's a credible scenario," said retired Army Lt. Col. James Carafano, a specialist in international security threats at the conservative Heritage Foundation. LINK

Mr. PAUL PILLAR (Former CIA Official): ... the longer that we stay engaged in what has become in the eyes of the Islamist jihadists, the biggest and foremost jihad namely Iraq, the more likelihood we will breed even more terrorists.

¹National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: All Things Considered 8:00 PM EST
April 30, 2007 Monday
LENGTH: 952 words
HEADLINE: Behind the Messages on Stopping Terrorism,
and Iraq
ANCHORS: MELISSA BLOCK