Dublin Opinion

In the print edition of The Irish Times today there was a Reuters report about Dick Cheney’s visit to Japan, where he said that the US has to succeed in Iraq to prevent terrorists attacking the US. It’s not on the site so I can’t link to it.

It was an eventful morning and I lost the paper when I chucked it at some school kids on their mid-term break who were slagging me about the shaggingness of my beard, which means I can’t cite from the paper either.

So I think that was the gist of Cheney’s argument.

Today I noticed that Mother Jones have published an exclusive study that shows that the war in Iraq has increased terrorism around the world seven fold.

“Contrary to Bush’s assertion, jihadists have not let the Iraq War distract them from targeting the United States and its allies. The rate of attacks on Western interests and citizens has risen by almost 25 percent, while the yearly fatality rate has increased by 4 percent, a figure that would have been higher had planned attacks, such as the London airline plot, not been prevented.”

And what if, in some parallel universe, the US managed to ‘win’ in Iraq or the situation ‘winds down’?

“Jihadists are already leaving Iraq to operate elsewhere, a “blowback” trend that will greatly increase when the war eventually winds down. Terrorist groups in Iraq, which have learned to raise millions through kidnapping and oil theft, may be in a position to help fund their jihadist brethren elsewhere. Finally, Iraq has increased the popularity of a hardcore takfiri ideology so intolerant that, unlikely as it seems, it makes Osama bin Laden appear relatively moderate.”

Still its really annoying at midterm isn’t it? Idle kids everywhere running amok.