From Spain to Indonesia?

On Wednesday, the 8th-grader-in-chief again pitched the most far-fetched of lies during his speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. They loved it, of course.

In the speech, Bush tried to paint a picture of a dark and terrible future if the US does not keep our soldiers killing and dying in Iraq: that if American military forces were to leave, Osama bin Laden and his Islamo-fascists would become the dictators of all the land from Spain to Indonesia.

Bush has pushed this fearmongering garbage over and over. In this speech he claimed “They have aims,”

These acts are part of a grand strategy by the terrorists. Their stated objective is to drive the United States and coalition forces out of the Middle East so they can gain control of Iraq and use that country as a base from which to launch attacks against America, overthrow moderate governments in the Middle East, and establish a totalitarian Islamic empire that stretches from Spain to Indonesia. Hear the words of the terrorists. In a letter to the terrorist leader Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri has outlined plans that will unfold in several stages. These are his words: Expel the Americans from Iraq. … Establish an Islamic authority over as much territory as you can to spread its power in Iraq. … Extend the jihad wave to secular countries neighboring Iraq. End quote.

…There’s only one way the terrorists can prevail: if we lose our nerve and leave before the job is done. And that is not going to happen on my watch.

The problem with this argument is that the possibility of the new Eurasia-wide Caliphate he conjures – under the dictatorship of Osama bin Laden, no less – is too remote to even be considered fantasy. Zarqawi is a two-bit rapist who only has status due to the propaganda of the US government, and Zawahiri was, at last count, hiding in exile off in the mountains of Pakistan, where the Bush government let him escape.

As reformed War Party stalwart Jack Murtha has pointed out, and as Bush even conceded in this speech and his last at the Council on Foreign Relations, the foreign jihadist types make up less than seven pecent of the resistance, which is primarily run by ex-Ba’athists and blessed by local Sunni Imams. The Imams may not mind the mujahedeen helping out in the short term, but the likelihood that they could ever take over the Sunni triangle, much less all of Iraq, is incredibly low. Even if they did, the Badr and Wolf Brigade monsters, along with the Kurdish peshmergas that the US has nurtured, can surely take ’em. They’re ruthless enough. Hell, the generals had to turn down their offer to help outright, and just let them into the new Iraqi army instead. The US is now protecting the “Terrorists” from the majority we’ve empowered.

The only reason Iraq is the “central front in the war on terror” is because of our invasion and occupation. As Dr. Robert Pape, author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism explained to me back in July, suicide terrorism is simply a reaction to foreign occupation, and historically, when the occupation ends, the radical groups’ recruitment dries up as people go back to their lives. The longer US forces stay, the worse off we all are, as new jihadist recruitment increases and more American tax dollars go down the drain.

In other words, Bush is completely full of it.

As Robert Higgs explains in his article for the current issue of the Independent Review [.pdf], “Fear: The Foundation of Every Government’s Power,” in which he argues that fear is not simply a useful tool of state power, but the very basis of it,

“Over the ages, governments refined their appeals to popular fears, fostering an ideology that emphasizes the people’s vulnerability to a variety of internal and external dangers from which the governors—of all people!—are represented to be their protectors. Government, it is claimed, protects the populace from external attackers and from internal disorder, both of which are portrayed as ever-present threats. Sometimes the government, as if seeking to nourish the mythology with grains of truth, does protect people in this fashion—even the shepherd protects his sheep, but he does so to serve his own interest, not theirs, and when the time comes, he will shear or slaughter them as his interest dictates.”

On another occasion, though he quickly contradicted himself, the president actually told the truth about the enemy. Al Qaeda, he said, is “more like a loose network with many branches than an army.”

As long as we keep letting the politicians frame the debate around such far-fetched fears as a multicontinental Islamo-Fascist Caliphate, the argument will never, finally, get to the point: In order to win the fight against anti-American terrorism, our foreign interventionism must end.

Author: Scott Horton

Scott Horton is editorial director of Antiwar.com, director of the Libertarian Institute, host of Antiwar Radio on Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles, California and podcasts the Scott Horton Show from ScottHorton.org. He’s the author of the 2017 book, Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan and editor of The Great Ron Paul: The Scott Horton Show Interviews 2004–2019. He’s conducted more than 5,000 interviews since 2003. Scott lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, investigative reporter Larisa Alexandrovna Horton. He is a fan of, but no relation to the lawyer from Harper’s. Scott’s Twitter, YouTube, Patreon.

62 thoughts on “From Spain to Indonesia?”

    1. As long as we keep letting the politicians frame the debate around such far-fetched fears as a multicontinental Islamo-Fascist Caliphate, the argument will never, finally, get to the point: In order to win the fight against anti-American terrorism, our foreign interventionism must end.

  1. We are Australia’s business fibre experts! Fibre optic internet is the fastest and most reliable internet and network service available to your business. If you rely on the web and email, then fibre optic internet is the technology you need to deliver the reliability you require. cool article I found

  2. I hope you this website are very popular for providing the great info in this blog. I am very much satisfied by the info in this blog. click here

  3. Nanny resumes are liked by the customers because these are supportive for job seekers to achieve success in professional objectives. Twitter

  4. I really appreciate the kind of topics you post here. Thanks for sharing us a great information that is actually helpful. Good day! window cleaning

  5. I really appreciate the kind of topics you post here. Thanks for sharing us a great information that is actually helpful. Good day! window cleaning

  6. I found so many entertaining stuff in your blog, especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the leisure here! Keep up the excellent work locksmith Perth

  7. I give you quality USA Phone verified accounts with guarantee in very cheap price. I have been doing this for many years and joined here to expand my reach and further develop my career. Feel free to ask me any questions about my service. facebook pva

  8. I give you quality USA Phone verified accounts with guarantee in very cheap price. I have been doing this for many years and joined here to expand my reach and further develop my career. Feel free to ask me any questions about my service. usa pva account

  9. Excellently written article, if only all bloggers offered the same level of content as you, the internet would be a much better place. GTA V

  10. In the speech, Bush tried to paint a picture of a dark and terrible future if the US does not keep our soldiers killing and dying in Iraq: that if American military forces were to leave, Osama bin Laden and his Islamo-fascists would become the dictators of all the land from Spain to Indonesia.

  11. If somebody wants expert take on the main topic of blogging next I advise him/her to go to this site, continue the fussy job. Info

  12. You have made a very good album on their marriage. I prefer to make such an online album similar to what you have given here. I hope it does not take much time. Thank you for the post. champion gun safe reviews

  13. I give you quality USA Phone verified accounts with guarantee in very cheap price. I have been doing this for many years and joined here to expand my reach and further develop my career. Feel free to ask me any questions about my service. Airsoft guns

  14. I really appreciate the kind of topics you post here. Thanks for sharing us a great information that is actually helpful. Good day! casumo review

  15. You're in point of fact a just right webmaster. The website loading speed is amazing. It kind of feels that you're doing any distinctive trick. Moreover, The contents are masterpiece. you have done a fantastic activity on this subject! forever brilliant moissanite

  16. Wrestlers can become stars without winning, or they can become walking human punchlines. But no man, not even two-time winner Cena, is bigger than the Rumble itself. So, in the spirit of this, here are 10 great or ridiculous or wonderfully dumb things that happened during the Rumble itself. life insurance companies

  17. I finally found great post here.I will get back here. I just added your blog to my bookmark sites. thanks.Quality posts is the crucial to invite the visitors to visit the web page, that's what this web page is providing.waklert online

  18. I’m excited to uncover this page. I need to to thank you for ones time for this particularly fantastic read!! I definitely really liked every part of it and i also have you saved to fav to look at new information in your site. best crib mattress

  19. I’m excited to uncover this page. I need to to thank you for ones time for this particularly fantastic read!! I definitely really liked every part of it and i also have you saved to fav to look at new information in your site. buy instagram 10 followers

Comments are closed.