When Bush was the enemy, it was important to claim that Iraq was a 'wrong turn' in the war on terror. For the New York Times, this meant that they had to deny the obvious fact that we were fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq. This led to some bizarre circumlocutions, such as when they wrote: "Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, sometimes called Al Qaeda in Iraq, the homegrown Sunni Arab extremist group that American intelligence agencies have concluded is foreign-led, is not part of the Qaeda network...."
Contrast that with this recent article in which they write: "[Anbar] was once the most dangerous province in Iraq, consumed by a bloody insurgency and terrorism, until tribal leaders joined the Americans and turned on Al Qaeda and other extremists in late 2006." Thanks to Pres. Obama's election, the NY Times can now admit the obvious presence of Al Qaeda in Iraq without circumlocution.
Related: The UPI goes further and discusses how Al Qaeda's leaders in Iraq appear to be meeting with headquarters in Pakistan.
1 comment:
hilarious. i'm sitting here snickering. good post. will bookmark.
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