More GI and Civilian Deaths in Iraq

You know, I get up in the morning, make coffee, go to my PC, and - with dread accumulating into a choke in my throat - log in to check the news to see what's happened in Iraq overnight. I know I'm not the only one who feels the sickness in the pit of his or her stomach when you read about 3 killed, 5 killed, 25 killed.

Now the administration is saying the most recent violence in Iraq has "all the marks of Al Qaeda." This could even be true. But from a group that has gotten so much wrong, I'm amazed they keep saying "Intelligence tells us..." Also, al Qaeda has turned into our bogeyman.

For about a year before 9/11, friends and I had a running joke. So often, any event in the world was being blamed on al Qaeda, that several people - us included - began to snicker. Lost car keys? Al Qaeda. Bounced a check? Al Qaeda. Trent Lott having a bad hair(piece) day. That damned Al Qaeda.

Then 9/11 happened and the jokes stopped. But all I have is this administration's statements and "their intelligence" telling us it was al Qaeda. Perhaps it was. But so much they've said has been proven wrong. What if it isn't al Qaeda and we're chasing the wrong bunny down the rabbit hole? And we're not doing a remarkable job at getting that wrong bunny, either.

Remember, too, Condi Rice telling us again and again on news shows: "Who could have predicted that al Qaeda would strike us on 9-11?"

Anyone who listened to even what news was available on the subject before 9-11, Dr. Rice. Since before the bombing of the U.S. Cole, al Qaeda and bin Laden were mentioned for almost every act of terrorism. Clinton's people said you didn't want to listen to what reporters said OR what they tried to tell you.

Someone must be accountable for this. The actual perpetrators of 9-11, whoever they are, and the people in the US who let it happen. Dr. Rice is one of those, if the evidence is correct. If the chatter was as high about al Qaeda as we've heard since 9-11, why was the President AND the VP both on vacation a good part of the 6 weeks prior to that September morning? Perhaps if so many weren't on vacation, or perhaps if some heard or read the news, so many lives would not have been lost on that September morning... or in all the months since.

Accountability.