Us Vs. Them -- But Who Are They?

By: Matthew Felling
Topics: In The News

(AP / CBS)

We're more than four years into the war, and the media may now be digging deeper into the brutal realities of Iraq than they ever have before. In recent weeks, reporters have been questioning whether Al Qaeda in Iraq is related to the Al Qaeda that attacked us on 9/11, as the president has implied. (The answer: Not really. Al Qaeda was not operational inside Iraq in 2001.) The media have also begun looking into the assistance that Iran is providing the Mahdi Army in Bahgdad as they fight American troops. And reporters have become more confrontational in presidential press conferences, with even Fox News folks starting to sound like Helen Thomas.

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times took it to another level, asking: Who Are We Fighting? According to the blockbuster expose, very often it's an ally.

Although Bush administration officials have frequently lashed out at Syria and Iran, accusing it of helping insurgents and militias here, the largest number of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq come from a third neighbor, Saudi Arabia, according to a senior U.S. military officer and Iraqi lawmakers.

About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said …

The situation has left the U.S. military in the awkward position of battling an enemy whose top source of foreign fighters is a key ally that at best has not been able to prevent its citizens from undertaking bloody attacks in Iraq, and at worst shares complicity in sending extremists to commit attacks against U.S. forces, Iraqi civilians and the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

I know we've got a lot on our geopolitical plates here – from the political battle over the surge on the domestic front to concerns about North Korea to wondering about our other "ally" Pakistan's political stability – but here's hoping that a little extra attention be shed upon Saudi Arabia. (And given the fact that Iraq's parliament is going to be on vacation for all of August, maybe the news media can look south during that time on occasion.) This isn't tinfoil helmet stuff here; we knew soon after 9/11 that 15 of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.

The war in Iraq and the war on terror don't lend themselves to simple us/them breakdowns. And this isn't a call to arms or a call for retreat – it's merely a call to approach things as clear-eyed as possible. There are a number of inconvenient truths about the war we are engaged in now. And the media would serve us well – in the current summer lull – by getting to the bottom of some of them.

The best news stories -- like the best presents under the Christmas tree -- come with the label "Some Assembly Required." A spot news story is always important, but in a complicated world the most crucial news stories are often those that, as we heard repeatedly in 2001, 'connect the dots.' The dots of news stories are out there, like stars in the night sky, but the true public service is done by the journalist who can identify the constellation and the story behind a spot here and there.

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by mattcat25 July 17, 2007 2:27 PM EDT: It is well known that hundreds of millions of US $dollars have gone missing in Iraq and the Bush Administration cannot account for it. Along with recruiting foreign Islamic Terrorists and Jihadists as Iraqi Security forces the Bush Administration has furnished uniforms, equipment, weapons, ammunition and US cash to support the very factions that are slaying Iraqi citizens and US Soldiers.

Who is the enemy?; Reply to this comment


by joycewest July 17, 2007 11:19 AM EDT: There was a good article about Saudi Arabia in the National Geographic a few years back, maybe 2003. What struck me most was a comparison that showed a public library here in the Midwest had many more books than the largest library in all of Saudi Arabia. Also, there was a comparison of how many Arabic books are translated into other languages with how many books are translated into Arabic. Again, not many books from other languages -- other cultures -- are translated into Arabic for them to read. It seems to be a closed society. I wonder how or if the Internet has changed this culture.; Reply to this comment


by ronmwanga July 17, 2007 2:17 AM EDT: Unfortunately, we have all been called upon to step up our game with regard to our intake of foreign policy information in the walke of September 11th. It is not enough to be energized on religion/tax/civil liberties issues: we must read up on Central Asia, the Middle East, and, now North Africa.; Reply to this comment


by wbaarsma1 July 16, 2007 8:22 PM EDT: OK. You guys need to get up to speed with this comment thing.

You'll have to cut and paste:

www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com; Reply to this comment


by wbaarsma1 July 16, 2007 8:19 PM EDT: "The dots of news stories are out there, like stars in the night sky, but the true public service is done by the journalist who can identify the constellation and the story behind a spot here and there."

DONE!!!

a href="http://www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com" www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com /a; Reply to this comment


by phoenixandy July 16, 2007 8:09 PM EDT: One_American, you can always get your news from the Fascist News Channel if you feel CBS is too liberal for you. You won't be missed here.; Reply to this comment


by lewisholt July 16, 2007 7:20 PM EDT: So we need to believe the right wing press? No thanks. I think I'll stay progressive.; Reply to this comment


by memekiller July 16, 2007 6:05 PM EDT: A very important post, regardless of your ideaology. I was one who believed whole-heartedly in the Afghanistan War, but if our goal was to weaken the people who attacked us on 9/11, it looks like even that has been a bust.

Politicians are using terror and security for their own ends, but if we are not able to move beyond the rhetoric of "defeatism" and patriotism to have an honest debate about what policies will actually make us safer, then terror will continue being a tool used by powerful people to line their pockets and keep their office. Such battles may benefit partisans, but don't make us any safer.

Only by confronting the harsh realities and entertaining counter-intuitive solutions like, say, diplomacy and trade, will we be able to stop back-sliding and start making ground on this issue. But that requires allowing other voices to the table to speak, without being filibustered by blowhards.; Reply to this comment


by one_american July 16, 2007 4:56 PM EDT: "In recent weeks, reporters have been questioning whether Al Qaeda in Iraq is related to the Al Qaeda that attacked us on 9/11, as the president has implied. (The answer: Not really. Al Qaeda was not operational inside Iraq in 2001.)"

Just because they have the same goals (Islamic world domination), use the same barbaric tactics (killing innocent civilians) and clearly state that they are at war with America - don't give in to what is painfully obvious, that it doesn't matter whether or not it is the "same al-Qaeda" that attacked us on 9/11. Keep sticking your head in the sand. That just makes the terrorists job that much easier...

The thing that galls me is that the liberal press thinks that it can manufacture a whole new reality in the world, where if they come to a consensus with their peers and report in propaganda lock-step, then it must be truth.

Nothing could be farther from the truth than what is being perpetrated by the liberal press.

The truth is it doesn't matter what the terrorist groups call themselves, or who they align themselves with, when their objectives are all THE SAME.

And the who would be foolish enough to think that if we run away from the fight that the war will REALLY end?; Reply to this comment


by phoenixandy July 16, 2007 4:03 PM EDT: Lesson to be learned: just because the Bush administration says it is doesn't make it so.; Reply to this comment