REPORTERS LAZY ON CLAIM OF U.S. TO "FIGHT AGAINST QAEDA"

I asked the other day if all insurgents in Iraq are part of Al Qaeda. It certainly seems that way from how Bush and Cheney and the U.S. generals talk about the "surge" in Iraq and their operations on a day-to-day basis.

We all know why the insurgency is being tied to Qaeda. Bush and Cheney want to justify their illegal war of aggression in Iraq. If they can tie the insurgent fighters to Qaeda, then they can claim that they are just pursuing the current manifestations of the organization that planned and executed the attacks on 9/11. Bush can then claim he was justified in invading Iraq because he would be bringing the fight to America's "enemies."

But I don't understand why respected news reporters such as John Burns of The New York Times and even those on NPR repeat the canard without more. Instead of taking what the military public affairs office puts out as propaganda fluff, why don't they question the assertion, for example, that the U.S. military is killing so many "Qaeda forces," or that the goal is to go after "Qaeda members."

How many insurgents are there now in Iraq fighting U.S. soldiers? In 2003, the military put the number at 20,000. That always seemed low to me. I would define an insurgent as anyone who takes up or who has ever taken up arms against the U.S. military. Under this definition, I would estimate that 20% of all Iraqi men are "insurgents." Think about it. f you were an Iraqi male, how would you feel about foreign troops patrolling your streets in tanks, busting into your home, violating the privacy of your woman and children. Wouldn't you consider resisting and defending Iraqi from the foreign-speaking, foreign-culture army? Given everything that has happened, including all the bombings and killings, I would guess the number is over 200,000.

Of this 200,000 number, how many are Qaeda? The U.S. military likes to also speak of "Qaeda-related," but that term means nothing and is merely propaganda without any basis in fact. I would guess Qaeda fighters number about 500, a very small percentage of the total number of insurgents. Why do I guess 500? Because Qaeda fighters tend to be outsiders, not former Baathists, not Sunnis who have lived in the Sunni triangle, but outside Arabs who have come to Iraq to fight the American forces.

Therefore, the acceptance by news reporters in newspapers, and on TV and radio, that the U.S. surge is going after Qaeda is unjustified and an oversimplification, and shows how lazy otherwise respected reporters have become. Instead of using their scepticism to flush out the truth, we have reporters today acting merely as mouth pieces for Bush and his militaristic gang.