After listening to the senate hearing about Iraq (grilling of Petraeus as a proxy for Bush), one can only admire Petraeus for having the composure to be polite, despite the senators making speeches instead of asking intelligent questions. It was quite interesting to note how the word Al-Qaeda was used without the suffix "in Iraq". The faction "Al-Qaeda in Iraq" (AQiI) appeared in 2004, the name being selected to get good publicity. The strategy worked, as American press, being more concerned with quantity than quality did not use the properly descriptive name "The [terrorist] group named AQiI", which would have clarified that it is not Al-Qaeda, but a homegrown Iraqi faction. The lazy American news viewers listening to the inaccurate reporters were convinced in a short time span that Al-Qaeda was indeed operating in Iraq. Lastly, the American political factions friendly with the Bush government started conveniently turning AQiI into Al-Qaeda, which nicely makes Iraq guilty by association, which helps justify the invasion after the fact.
Egil
