CRS: Bush Administration Has Intensified False Reporting On Al Qaeda Since ‘Surge’ Began
CRS: Bush Administration Has Intensified False Reporting On Al Qaeda Since ‘Surge’ Began
Attempting to drum up public support for the war in Iraq in July, President Bush referred to al Qaeda 95 times in a single speech, claiming the war in Iraq has become the central front in the fight against al Qaeda (AQI):
There’s also a debate about al Qaeda’s role in Iraq. Some say that Iraq is not part of the broader war on terror. They complain when I say that the al Qaeda terrorists we face in Iraq are part of the same enemy that attacked us on September the 11th. … I say that there will be a big defeat in Iraq and it will be the defeat of al Qaeda.
Echoing Bush, Gen. David Petraeus also argued that al Qaeda is “public enemy number one” in Iraq. Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner said AQI was the “principle threat” to the Iraqi people.
But in a new report, the Congressional Research Service notes that attacks from al Qaeda are only a small percentage of the violence in Iraq, criticizing the Bush administration’s statistics and noting that this false reporting on AQI has increased since Bush’s “surge” began:
Increasingly in 2007, U.S. commanders have seemed to equate AQ-I with the insurgency, even though most of the daily attacks are carried out by Iraqi Sunni insurgents.
Similarly, ret. Gen. James Jones, author of a major report on Iraqi security forces, acknowledged to Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) this week that 98 percent of violence in Iraq is “Iraqis fighting amongst Iraqis”:
BAYH: [T]wo percent or fewer of the adversaries that we’re facing in Iraq and that the Iraqis are facing in Iraq are foreign jihadis or AQI affiliates, [and] 98 percent or more are Iraqis fighting amongst Iraqis for the future of Iraq. Is that consistent with your understanding?
JONES: I think we would agree with that. Yes.
Watch it:
Washington Monthly reports that the percentage of violence in Iraq that is sourced to al Qaeda do not correspond to the Bush administration’s overestimates.
Today, the threat from al Qaeda to the U.S. comes from the terrorist network’s resurgent presence in Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Redeployment — not fearmongering — will tackle that threat.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
87 Responses to “CRS: Bush Administration Has Intensified False Reporting On Al Qaeda Since ‘Surge’ Began”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Think ProgressContact Us
Donate
It’s all been a surge in fear tactics and propaganda.

September 8th, 2007 at 2:14 pmgoddamn commonsense always getting in the way….
September 8th, 2007 at 2:16 pmThat’s old news, but it should be REPEATED often for the 30% of Americans who are ignorant.
Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said fighters associated with al-Qaeda and Zarqawi represent “a fairly small percentage of the total number of insurgents.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/ articles/ A28876-2005Feb16.html
In a Nov. 28, 2006, broadcast by NBC News, The U.S. military confirmed al-Qaeda represents only 2% of insurgents in Iraq…
http://video.msn.com/ v/ us/ msnbc.htm?g=e734fe01-d63a-43bb-933d-4b9452293c34&f=00&fg=email
In 2006, the top general at CENTCOM, John Abizaid, said “al Qaeda, in particular, in Iraq, is not popular. I don‘t believe that it can become mainstream there.â€
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15952042/
(Scroll half-way down the page for Abizaid’s quote)
In 2006, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, said “attacks by terrorist groups like Al Qaeda in Iraq account for only a fraction of the insurgent violence.â€
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15952042/
A conservative think tank issued a report titled “The Myth of an al Qaeda Takeover of Iraq.” The report says “The notion of al Qaeda using Iraq as a sanctuary is a specter — a canard that the perpetrators of the current catastrophe use to frighten people into supporting a fatally flawed, and seemingly endless, nation-building debacle.”
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=7353
September 8th, 2007 at 2:19 pmRequired reading: The Myth of al-Qa’ida in Iraq
September 8th, 2007 at 2:22 pmCome on, I spent a pretty penny on beard dye and a film crew for the latest Republican Campaign Video; don’t be undercutting me with this hogwash of only 2% of fighters in Iraq are Al Qaeda. You’re making me look bad, although, after seeing the video, that isn’t very difficult.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:26 pmAgain, Toilet Paper hate-site is on the wrong side in this war against Islamonazi terrorists and plots to brainwash gullible unAmericans (progs) into believing Al-Qaeda isn’t in Iraq as the biggest enemy when it is. This is all part of the progressives’ Al-Qaeda-helping plan to permit Al-Qaeda to set up shop in Iraq after a retreat, which progressives have the balls to trickily term “redeployment.” There is no false reporting on Al-Qaeda in Iraq because they’re there; the fact that bloodthirsty Sunnis are responsible for a greater proportion of the attacks (due to their barbaric mentality of sectarian violence) undermines the broader point. The broader point is Al-Qaeda’s attacks are deadlier and Al-Qaeda is recruting the Sunnis to attack US forces and do their dirty work for them. So, even if more Sunnis are accountable for attacks, it’s at the behest of Al-Qaeda, foreign terrorists. To blur this fact like progressives do is very deadly for future generations of Americans.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:26 pmFuk you toasterhead, you dirty Islamophile.
Comment by Mr P — September 8, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
p, toaserhead is not going to let you suck him off, no matter how sweetly you entreat him. You’re just embarrassing yourself again.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:27 pmThere is no al-Qaeda in Iraq because Bush said Osama has no operations there. Bush said: “He [Osama] is attempting to establish a base of operations in Iraq. He hasn’t established a base in operations.” Bush also said: “Osama bin Laden was establishing an external cell there, or trying to, and he’s been unable to do it.â€
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ news/ releases/ 2007/ 05/ 20070524.html
So, there you have it — right from Bush’s mouth. THERE ARE NO AL-QAEDA OPERATIVES IN IRAQ.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:29 pmTo blur this fact like progressives do is very deadly for future generations of Americans.
Comment by AlQaedathanksprogsfordenyingthey’reinIraq
Please crawl back under your bed. You are not strong, brave or smart enough to think for yourself. When you grow a spine, please come back, but before you do that - please stay away. Your affection for Bush and his authoritarian way is pathetic and unpatriotic. Geez you scardy cats make me sick to my stomach. Boo!
September 8th, 2007 at 2:31 pmComment by AlQaedathanksprogsfordenyingthey’reinIraq — September 8, 2007 @ 2:26 pm
Al Qaeda is working hand-in-hand with the Bush regime to ban smoking in Anbar. Al Qaeda is too busy making anti-smoking posters to do much damage in Iraq. Al Qaeda thanks Allah daily for the rants of rightards like you, and they take great comfort and aid in the knowledge that even with some 2% of the fighters on the ground, the Right is deathly afraid of them. Al Qaeda is far more savvy about propaganda warfare than the left, and has been far more effective in scaring the right into capitulating to Bush on everything, as Bush capitulated to me on 9/11.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:32 pmFuk you toasterhead, you dirty Islamophile.
Comment by Mr P — September 8, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
Hi Mr P - how are you this fine morning?
I cited you on my blog today. No need to thank me or anything :)
September 8th, 2007 at 2:33 pmTo blur this fact like progressives do is very deadly for future generations of Americans.
Comment by AlQaedathanksprogsfordenyingthey’reinIraq — September 8, 2007 @ 2:26 pm
What’s deadly for future generations of America is the contimued survival of the GOP. it must be destroyed and its members jailed, if Aemrica is ever to be free again.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:34 pmMaster Pee is a nmaestealre. i can tel, he ddni’t get enough wurds rong.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:36 pmMuslim.
Comment by Mr P — September 8, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
P, you’re a Muslim-sucker.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:37 pmIslamonazi terrorists … @ 2:26 pm
hey! when did they graduate?!?
ah hahaha!
September 8th, 2007 at 2:38 pm…
Comment by toasterhead — September 8, 2007 @ 2:33 pm
Muslim.
Comment by Mr P — September 8, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
This is supposed to be an insult?
September 8th, 2007 at 2:39 pmBut, but we just saw with our own eyes the guy in the Groucho glasses modified with a beard tell us Al Qaeda is in Iraq, Iran and under your bed if you put your feet on the floor at night.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:39 pmI’m telling you, the RNC has hired Osama for the ‘08 campaign. Richard Melonhead Scaife is in for 20 million, that’s why the dye job, for the DVD distribution.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:41 pmBush’s director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, said it’s “unlikely” (his word) that al-Qaeda would follow U.S. troops back to America once troop withdrawal happens. That’s because Osama has no operations in Iraq. See link…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/ content/ article/ 2007/ 03/ 17/ AR2007031701373_2.html
September 8th, 2007 at 2:41 pmMuslim.
Comment by Mr P — September 8, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
mr p sucks off Muslims, and can’t get enough.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:42 pmMuslims generally make for more loyal Americans than rightwing Baptists or Catholics.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:43 pm“Comment by toasterhead — September 8, 2007 @ 2:39 pm
Muslim.
Comment by Mr P — September 8, 2007 @ 2:41 pm”
Frenchman.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:46 pmYa know If I keep saying Osamas name so much, maybe he’ll make more right-wing videos!! After all he did get me re-elected!!
September 8th, 2007 at 2:53 pmMuslim. Comment by Mr P — September 8, 2007
Hey dont you be dissing my arab friends like that!
September 8th, 2007 at 2:54 pmComment by Mr P — September 8, 2007
Hey, you buy Arab gasoline dont you?
You filthy traitor!!
September 8th, 2007 at 2:56 pmMuslim.
Comment by Mr P — September 8, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
*yawn*
September 8th, 2007 at 2:59 pmComment by corsair — September 8, 2007 @ 2:19 pm
Excellent post…Those who are actually keeping score know that AQI has been and continues to be a straw man for this completely corrupt and useless GW Botch misadministration!!!
September 8th, 2007 at 3:06 pmSuck a Muslim (as per usual), Traitorhead.
Comment by Dean CT — September 8, 2007 @ 3:24 pm
Didn’t you hear? Sucking religious conservatives is the expertise of you and your fellow GOP Conservatives! Just go over to the bathroom of a Mosque, and do what you do best! Tap your foot!
September 8th, 2007 at 3:26 pmMuslim.
Comment by Mr P — September 8, 2007 @ 2:41 pmâ€
Pagan.
September 8th, 2007 at 3:27 pmWhen finding out that the GOP is LYING, and SPREADING PROPAGANDA, what do the PEE STAINS of the RIGHT WING DO? Whine that everyone is a MUSLIM, despite their GREAT LEADER’S claim that being MUSLIM is JUST FABULOUS! How PATHETIC is THAT?
September 8th, 2007 at 3:28 pmWhy do Generals, like General Jones, in this video, only tell the truth after they retire? Is Bush such a dictator, he only lets the propagandists speak? I just answered my own question….Invariably.
September 8th, 2007 at 3:44 pmI apologize for that last meltdown and namestealing. I am nearly out of meth and don’t know what to do. I am considering suicide, but I’m afraid I don’t have the balls to follow through. My life is such a waste.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:15 pmtheir earlier whining about being rightfully compared to them.
Comment by Dean CT — September 8, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
so, basically, you’re afraid he’s right, and have no comeback besides that insane tripe? very good, that’s why your side is losing at everything it qattempts.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:17 pm“It’s all been a surge in fear tactics and propaganda.”
And unfortunately the propaganda war may work again. The “liberal” media is parroting everything that the Bush Crime Family says and very few of them are telling the public about the studies that say that what the Bush Crime Family is saying is bullsh1t.
I wish there was some way we could get the public to start reading blogs. That way we would have a much more informed public.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:53 pmFrom BUZZFLASH:
Can’t argue with that.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:54 pmYou’ve provided no evidence to show how America “deserved†9/11.
Comment by Dean CT — September 8, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
No one has provided evidence that IRAQ “deserved” 9/11 either.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:55 pm“Learn how to read.
Comment by Dean CT — September 8, 2007″
that’s an awesome comeback too. keep up the great work.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:10 pmCT, I forgot to mention — I’m an idiot. I mean, is it really odd for a dean advise someone to improve their reading skills? Also, I just sarcastically called your comments “awesome,” while at the same time refusing to call out my fellow lefties on their own incredibly stupid and weak comments. Please accept my apology.
Finally, my capitalization really sucks. Teach me…please?
September 8th, 2007 at 5:23 pmyou namejack me because you can’t get enough of me.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:25 pm[perhaps it’s a symptom of youth?]
Oh yeah, look at these various wrinkles, my cratered bum.
Good lucking looking for someone else who dances like THIS. Please, come get enough of THAT.
[proceeding to do a Jon Lovitz dance in front of my computer]
September 8th, 2007 at 5:35 pmThis thread is high [sic] jacked…Repugniscum trolls everywhere…
September 8th, 2007 at 5:36 pmseriously, if you’re gonna namejack me, please try and be the least bit funny.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:37 pmI’m sorry, CT. I’ll stop talking to myself. There was no namejack, and I’m sorry for accusing you.
I shouldn’t expect you to care for you to meet my laughing needs. I’m not that important.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:44 pmstill not funny.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:47 pmnot like when you refer to yourself in 3rd person.
“Perhaps you don’t get it, basking in your leftist slime-pool.”
Who writes your material? From the sound of it, it must be some combination of Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee (I’m thinking you are perhaps channeling the Dread Dormammu from _Dr. Strange_) and John Milius (from his _Conan the Barbarian_ period more than, say, his _Apocalypse Now_ days).
Or maybe … it’s just the ROTTED CORPSE of SPIRO AGNEW!
Whoever it is, I get the distinct impression he (or she) is overweight, has coarse hairs in all the wrong places and also has questionable hygiene. Otherwise s/he wouldn’t resort to such trite hyperbole.
Thanks. You may now go back to printing handbills in your basement.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:56 pmI do agree that 9/11 was worth it. They were all little Eichmanns, anyways. Muslims are the new America — nice and dirty, as I love them.
CT, am I the one calling you dirty when I love a nice pack of Islamics? I apologize.
Ward, why did you have to lose your job?
September 8th, 2007 at 6:04 pmpgw,
Care to have a night on the town?
September 8th, 2007 at 6:04 pmspiro agnew is before his time.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:04 pmMom, a frustrated, pimply high-schooler is stealing my good made-up name! :D
September 8th, 2007 at 6:05 pmspiro agnew is before his time.
Comment by pgw — September 8, 2007 @ 6:04 pm
Was that a ‘yes’?
September 8th, 2007 at 6:05 pmI’m only pretending to be namejacked.
Bear with me.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:06 pmWow - do I get to count this as having “blooded” a neocon teenager? Now that he is borrowing my fantasy “handle”? Geesh, he must be _ultra_ pissed off at me!
September 8th, 2007 at 6:06 pmWell, gotta leave study hall now. I will spend my time wondering what the missing letters in “CT” might be. Thanks.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:07 pm“Geesh, he must be _ultra_ pissed off at me!”
Comment by Bernard Quatermass — September 8, 2007 @ 6:06 pm
Oooh, you must be in real trouble now–he might holler at you!
September 8th, 2007 at 6:08 pmI stand up for terrorist muslims, act as if there shouldn’t be a challenge to the assertion of the U.S. “deserving” 9/11, then I have the gall to call accuse someone of poor hygeine and being overweight.
It looks as if my mind could use a chemical wash instead.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:09 pm“Geesh, he must be _ultra_ pissed off at me!”
he’s just frustrated because he wouldn’t know funny if it was ‘widening its stance’ in the next stall at the airport bathroom.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:10 pm“Oooh, you must be in real trouble now–he might holler at you!”
I KNOW. I might have to slink back to my leftist slime-pool before Incredible Captain Hulk of Fantastic Four America-Man GITs me.
You can’t CATCH acne, can you?
September 8th, 2007 at 6:10 pmComment by Prophet Mahomet ibn Abdallah — September 8, 2007 @ 6:06 pm
9/11 was worth every penny.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:10 pm“It looks as if my mind could use a chemical wash instead.”
Oh, man. Guys. Help. I am slain! Wow. I mean, that one is Shakespearean in its intensity and world-weary, polysyllabic ornament. Yeah, I give up before this awesome onslaught.
Please help. Wow. You got me, C**T. Snort.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:12 pm“You can’t CATCH acne, can you?”
Comment by Bernard Quatermass — September 8, 2007 @ 6:10 pm
Just make sure that you wash your hands thoroughly before leaving this restroom.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:12 pmI am soon to be outed with backne.
Excuse my acne-phobe mindset. It’s only a cover up of my own bodily discrepancies.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:12 pmDean C**T?
That big one on your forehead? It’s ready.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:13 pmAm I still talking? PLEASE excuse my rambling.
I used to be Mikey r.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:13 pm“have the gall to call accuse someone”? careless namejacking?
September 8th, 2007 at 6:13 pmI have a Quatermass on my forehead.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:14 pm“It’s only a cover up of my own bodily discrepancies.”
Ooo, now he is stealing my MATERIAL. That hurts.
He must be 15, 16 at least. I seriously could have my hide tanned by this one.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:14 pmAhhh….geez. I hate it when that happens Wai — Wai — Wait a sec, guys, I have to go in for a change of undees.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:16 pmI’m still talking to myself. Could anybody teach me to stop?
September 8th, 2007 at 6:17 pmI love Muslims as stinky as they come.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:17 pmunfunny. maybe you could talk about ‘communist massachusetts’ again. that was hilarious.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:18 pm“I’m still talking to myself. Could anybody teach me to stop?”
Well, Dean-o, my blackhead-bepeppered friend, I’d guess Mom could. Isn’t it time for dinner?
September 8th, 2007 at 6:18 pmI’m sorry, that’s all I got.
I skipped my usual lame “can’t get laid” comments, because I’m afraid of being outed there, too.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:25 pmIt was hillarious to ignore the state’s declining population, unbearable taxes, and 86% percent constantly whining and boring democrat presence.
It’s so funny. I love pushing aside what’s precisely true for my own enjoyment. Truly, I am a fake American.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:27 pmthere it is. you’re right; you’re the only troll who worries about the future of ‘communist massachusetts.’ that’s a heckuva cross to bear. maybe that’s the reason you have no discernable sense of humor.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:31 pmBack from my self-prepared dinner.
I’m not worried about anything, Mr. pgw. You simply won’t shut up about a comparison I made from way back. I never brought up the subject.
These leftist states can wipe themselves off the map as far as I’m concerned, not that they’ll stop blaming the right for their own stupid decisions.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:36 pmpgw,
TripSurrender Monkey is offering you a banana. Munch it, over some fresh 9/11 conspiracy theories with that idiot.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:39 pm…
go harry…
Reid Urges Republicans to Divert War to Bin Laden From Iraq
By Ryan J. Donmoyer
Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urged Republican colleagues to help end the war in Iraq and redeploy the U.S. military to defeat al-Qaeda.
“Osama bin Laden remains on the loose, making videos, mocking America, planning attacks,” Reid said in the Democratic Party’s radio address, three days before the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S.
[….]
Reid today criticized Bush for shifting focus to Iraq and away from capturing bin Laden.
“Six years have passed, and bin Laden has not been killed,” Reid said. “He has not been captured. He is not on the run.”
[…]
Bush’s “failed policies have been bin Laden’s best recruiting tool,” Reid said. “It is bin Laden who has used the breathing room created by the war in Iraq to regroup, re-tool, and recruit.”
Reid said that the White House “spin machine” would scrub the administration’s Iraq report before it arrives in Congress in an effort to twist or ignore facts and “cherry-pick” intelligence.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:45 pm[…]
http://www.bloomberg.com/ apps/ news?pid=20601087&sid=a79NQxBSDh4s&refer=home
…
Wow - do I get to count this as having “blooded†a neocon teenager? Now that he is borrowing my fantasy “handle� Geesh, he must be _ultra_ pissed off at me!
Comment by Bernard Quatermass
I know, you gotta love when they do that. You know that you have really gotten under their skin when they namejack your moniker. The other way you know that you got under their skin is then they say fu(k you! I enjoy it when they namejack me. I just wish that they would be a little more original in what they post with my moniker.
September 8th, 2007 at 8:03 pmTripSurrender Monkey is offering you a banana. Munch it, over some fresh 9/11 conspiracy theories with that idiot.
Comment by Dean CT — September 8, 2007 @ 6:39 pm
It might be better grilled after a rum based marinade and accompanied by a nice piece of mahi and maybe an island influenced slaw
September 8th, 2007 at 8:47 pmCNN comes off as the Hear no evil,Speak no Evil, See no Evil.
September 8th, 2007 at 9:50 pmYet, Evil Confronts Them Everyday.
For ALL ARE SINNERS.
…seems Bush..
…is burning…
September 8th, 2007 at 11:38 pmIt’s all been a surge in fear tactics and propaganda.

Comment by ∞Ω — September 8, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
in a nutshell…..yet bush still tries to beat everyone senseless with al qaeda = iraq - hey!! my beer is warm!!….damn that al qaeda!! - and can anyone tell me where is the rock solid proof that al qaeda is in iraq….once upon a time they were called insurgents….now days,they are all al qaeda
September 9th, 2007 at 6:20 amLions, and Tigers, and Al Kidda oh my…
September 9th, 2007 at 8:32 amMake the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.
Adolf Hitler. 1889 - 1945. German Dictator.
Anyone notice the similarities between Bush and Hitler?
September 10th, 2007 at 5:37 amthis is not about anything but oil. PNAC!
September 10th, 2007 at 1:26 pmDefense Secretary Gates has been “disappeared”
September 10th, 2007 at 4:58 pm–cognitorex blogspot–
.
Two or three times since Sec Gates took office he has been caught out for simply telling the truth. In each instance he clearly made truthful statements that were at odds with the White Houses propaganda delivery for such facts in question. In each instance he took my breath away for such rogue behavior. I laughed but I also felt concern for the hostility which was certain to befall him.
I don’t remember the exact details, but one instance concerned when he solo voce put the kibosh on huge extended terms for our troops.
Now as Petraeus and Crocker spin the facts in Iraq as good political aparatchiks in the service of whatever Bush/Cheney are trying to achieve, America’s Secretary of Defense is cut out of the loop.
Telling the unvarnished truth in this White House has morphed into treason, an act of deceit for which one becomes ‘disappeared.’
Satyam ignores the findings of his source. According to this CRS report al Qaeda is responsible for about 90% of the suicide bombings against both combatant and civilian targets. Suicide bombings are the deadliest of the violence in Iraq. No false reporting here, only from Satyam’s sloppy research.
September 14th, 2007 at 11:14 am