A chara, - Charles Krauthammer displays boundless - and groundless - optimism when he suggests that Gen David Petraeus can defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq (Opinion, September 17).
The fact that al-Qaeda is operating in Iraq at all is a by-product of the US-led invasion and occupation. The secularist Ba'ath Party absolutely excluded extremists pursuing Islamist ideologies, so the only group pursuing an ultra-orthodox interpretation of Islam in Iraq up to March 2003 was Ansar al-Islam, based in Kurdistan, well beyond the reach of Baghdad's forces.
The invasion itself created conditions under which al-Qaeda could establish a foothold close to Baghdad, and recent events in Anbar show that the entire might of the occupation forces cannot prevent al-Qaeda from staging spectacular strikes against its enemies.
During this year, a tribal leader named Sheikh Abdul Sittar Bezea al-Rishawi has led a campaign to drive al-Qaeda out of Anbar. During a brief stop at a US air force base in Iraq on September 3rd, President Bush acknowledged Sittar's achievements: "When you stand on the ground here in Anbar and hear from the people who live here, you can see what the future of Iraq can look like." Afterwards he shook hands with Sittar.
Gen Petraeus repeated this upbeat message during testimony to the US Congress on the recent anniversary of 9/11, describing Sittar's achievement as a "model of what happens when local leaders and citizens start to defy al-Qaeda". Two days later, Sittar was killed by a roadside bomb - apparently assassinated by al-Qaeda.
So this is the US model for the future of Iraq? Far from defeating al-Qaeda, the US occupation provides Islamists with ideal conditions for recruiting and training fighters to overthrow Mr Bush's friends in the house of Al-Saud, and does nothing to prevent al-Qaeda cells elsewhere from planning new bombings in other parts of the world.
Gen Petraeus knows this. When he appeared before the Senate armed services committee this month, Republican Senator John Warner asked him about his strategy: "Does that make America safer?" Petraeus replied: "Sir, I don't know, actually. . ." So: Krauthammer's comments bear no resemblance to the realities of defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq or anywhere else in the world, and every resemblance to a propagandum formulated by staff at the White House to justify a military strategy whose chances of success are next to nil.
As usual, Krauthammer tells us nothing about Iraq, and everything about Washington. - Is mise
COILÍN Ó hAISEADHA, Bóther Inse Chór, Cill Mhaighneann, Baile Átha Cliath 8.