Smell A Rat?

Eager to avoid an embarrassing congressional rebuke of the president's new war strategy, the administration seemed to hint that the effort — led chiefly by Democrats — might somehow be of assistance to terrorists. They also herded GOP skeptics to the White House, where they tried to allay the concerns of some of the Republican lawmakers of Virginia, Kansas and of Maine.
"What message does Congress intend to give?" asked White House spokesman Tony Snow. "And who does it think the audience is? Is the audience merely the president? Is it the voting American public or, in an age of instant communication, is it also al-Qaida?” (AP news of 1-17)
Is it better to save the lives of soldiers from needless killing or save the face of a blundering government?
Tailpiece: By the same argument a stronger but hawkish move would be incentive for the ‘terrorists’ to engage the nation into a war of attrition and prolong their attacks on American interests and civilians wherever they may be found.
Did the terrorist movement have a single hit in recent years? For what is happening in Iraq the reason we only need to look at the handling of war by Bush. Here and there are isolated incidents that owe to specific geographic realities where history and religion of the ethnic tribes hold the key. What is happening in Egypt of Saudi Arabia or the Philippines cannot be considered as ‘international’ terrorism any more than the market economy of the Netherlands or Great Britain being dubbed as American values. International Jihadism is more a bogey now than the truth. In fact whatever is left of it is dying what with more countries being extra vigilent to deny the terrorists their vital oxygen: flight of resources by way of currency or human components. Much more than any other reason the terrorists as a movement is bedevilled for want of anything new to inject into their cause.
Much of the Moslems all over the world are not seized of Jihad as much as their bread and butter things. Just like any Christians of all stripes and hues.
benny