It’s al Qaeda, Stupid!

The Chicago Tribune reports: “Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq now face a new enemy: Sunni tribesmen in Anbar Province. These tribal leaders in the heart of the insurgency are now backing coalition and Iraqi forces against the terrorists. … While the Sunni tribal leaders probably haven’t developed a sudden fondness for U.S. forces, they have apparently developed a deep disgust for the Al Qaeda agenda. The Sunnis don’t want what Al Qaeda is peddling: a soul-crushing fundamentalist Islamic dictatorship.”

Seems to me that this is the message we need to be focused on in Iraq. Not nation-building. Not building nice schools. Not trying to get the Sunni and Shia to like each other. Not the surge. No, it seems to me that we should be focused on killing al Qaeda terrorists.

Isn’t that what this war on terrorism is all about? Killing terrorists before they come over here and kill us?

I am not an expert on Iraq. Haven’t been there. Never served in the military. Never went to war college.

But I do know something about politics. And the politics on the Iraq war haven’t been too great for the president, the vice president, John McCain or congressional Republicans.

One reason this war has been a loser in the minds of the American people is because they don’t want us to be the mediator between Islamic factions. What do we care if the Sunni and Shia hate each other? That ain’t our problem.

Our problem is al Qaeda. And al Qaeda is becoming an even bigger problem for both Sunnis and Shia in Iraq (and in Saudi Arabia, Syria and several other Islamic countries). So let’s refocus our plans. Let’s refocus the fight. And let’s go after al Qaeda terrorists. Leave the nation-building to the U.N. or the Iraqis themselves. This war on terror is a war on terrorists. Let’s get back to that part of the war.