Making Iraq worse

Normally I'd never publish anything about the war in Iraq on this blog, unless maybe to mention the poor El Salvadorians, caught up in a war they have nothing to do with.

However, I read a column in the Washington Post today about a book written by former CIA agent Marc Sageman. I made me a little mad, so I thought I'd share it anyway.

Sageman, based in Pakistan, collected scientific data on more than 500 islamic militants to find out who they were.

Turns out that the generation of Bin Laden and the Taliban are all but extinct, save a few hundred or so left in Afghanistan. Instead, the militants in Iraq are about as fundamentalist as I am. They're "thrill seekers," averaging around 20 years old. Kids who watch videos on You Tube of the brutalities committed by US soldiers, and think, "I should do something." (Not entirely unlike the internationalist brigades of the Spanish Civil War.)

The conclusion Sageman draws, is what any reasonable thinking person figured out years ago...

The United States is making the terrorism problem worse by its actions in Iraq. "Since 2003, the war in Iraq has without question fueled the process of radicalization worldwide, including the U.S. The data are crystal clear," Sageman writes. We have taken a fire that would otherwise burn itself out and poured gasoline on it.