Terrorists Playing to the Press and Congress

Ralph Peters has some good insights into the latest big bloodbath in Iraq:

August 16, 2007 -- TWO days ago, al Qaeda det onated four massive truck bombs in three Iraqi villages, killing at least 250 civilians (perhaps as many as 500) and wounding many more. The bombings were a sign of al Qaeda's frustration, desperation and fear.

The victims were ethnic Kurd Yazidis, members of a minor sect with pre-Islamic roots. Muslim extremists condemn them (wrongly) as devil worshippers. The Yazidis live on the fringes of society.

That's one of the two reasons al Qaeda targeted those settlements: The terrorist leaders realize now that the carnage they wrought on fellow Muslims backfired, turning once-sympathetic Sunni Arabs against them. The fanatics calculated that Iraqis wouldn't care much about the Yazidis.

As far as the Thieves of Baghdad (also known as Iraq's government) go, the terrorists were right. Iraqi minorities, including Christians, have been classified as fair game by Muslim butchers. Mainstream Iraqis simply look away.

But the second reason for those dramatic bombings was that al Qaeda needs to portray Iraq as a continuing failure of U.S. policy. Those dead and maimed Yazidis were just props: The intended audience was Congress.

Al Qaeda has been badly battered. It's lost top leaders and thousands of cadres. Even more painful for the Islamists, they've lost ground among the people of Iraq, including former allies. Iraqis got a good taste of al Qaeda. Now they're spitting it out.

The foreign terrorists slaughtering the innocent recognize that their only remaining hope of pulling off a come-from-way-behind win is to convince your senator and your congressman or -woman that it's politically expedient to hand a default victory to a defeated al Qaeda.

Expect more attempts to generate massive bloodshed in Iraq in the coming weeks. The terrorists are well aware of the exaggerated-by-all-parties importance of Gen. David Petraeus' Sept. 15 progress report to Congress. They'll do all they can to embarrass the general and provide ammunition to the surrender caucus.

Peters is half right with his comments about the terrorists playing to Congress. The other half he didn't mention is the rest of the intended audience: the American press. Very few Americans would have any idea where the bombings took place (in a remote area near the Syrian border). All most Americans hear is "bombing in Iraq" and unless the press gets more specific, most people will assume these bombings are occurring in areas where we have large numbers of troops, and of course, the bombings would then imply a failure of U.S. policy. By playing up the death toll without putting the bombings in proper context (who bombed who and where did it occur), the press can keep up the illusion that the surge is failing and therefore help the Dems with their stated goal of withdrawing from Iraq before the job is done.

As far as the Dems in Congress go, any excuse to proclaim failure is welcome, so they'll take great pleasure in beating up the White House and the military when these dramatic (though largely irrelevant to the big picture) tragedies occur. Al Qaeda has a pretty sophisticated P.R. sense and they don't mind wiping out hundreds of innocents to promote their campaigns.