(Upd) Fighting Them Here

(Update below)

Large teams of newly trained suicide bombers are being sent to the United States and Europe, according to evidence contained on a new videotape obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Surely this isn't the result of not committing enough troops to Afghanistan, not taking out Osama Bin Laden, invading Iraq with way too few soldiers in the first place, not securing the borders there, largely playing up the myth of success, progress and Democracy in that country, committing atrocities in the prisons, secret rendition, torture, and widespread Islamophobia running rampant on certain blogs around the world.

Nah.

The tape shows Taliban military commander Mansoor Dadullah, whose brother was killed by the U.S. last month, introducing and congratulating each team as they stood.

"These Americans, Canadians, British and Germans come here to Afghanistan from faraway places," Dadullah says on the tape. "Why shouldn't we go after them?"

Heckuva job, George.
Heckuva job, Rumsfeld.
Heckuva job, Cheney.
Heckuva job, Rice.

I'll add that I've largely become deaf to the news reports coming out every single day about the threats posed to us, the ongoing carnage in Iraq, the never-ending time frames upon which we'll either see progress and success or...or...or something else.

But this one caught my eye.

Ultimately, all I see is failure to confront this threat appropriately, professionally, and justifiably with regards especially to Iraq. Who knows what will come of this, if anything, but I'm not surprised in the least, not after everything this adminstration has done wrong.

Not surprised in the least.

(Update) - Consider what one person is capable of:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A truck bomb ripped through a crowded square in the capital Tuesday, killing at least 75 people and wounding 204 others, an Interior Ministry official said.

Taking into account both TerribleTom's and highfive's comments, we can't be sure if the threat is real or just another fabrication of misinformation at the hands of our own but nonetheless, I suppose the threat is real, considering these people are willing to die to kill us.

And yet, as Dartagnan points out, apparently it's up on Drudge so....who knows at this point.

•  Remember right after 9/11?

  It was like we were living in an different world back then.  We had the support of the entire world in going after the perpetrators of the attacks in NY and VA.  

  Now, we are no longer the victims but the victimizers.  
  Global terror grows in scope and severity the longer we "wage war" against us.
  And nobody is letting W anywhere near a bullhorn anymore.

  The only word that comes to mind is tragic.

  by Wandering Hoo on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 08:48:20 AM PDT

  •  9/11 was terrible

    and it shook this nation to it's core. But I can only imagine what's going to happen, considering all the fear-mongering about what would happen if we didn't confront this threat "over there" if a suicide bomber enters this country undetected and with no warning, detonates a device in a highly crowded area.

    This country is going to go nuts. And not only will that be bad in itself, but it's going to raise the fear level of Muslims in general through the roof and I can only imagine how that would play out amongst the Muslim population in this country that love America, denounce terrorism, and otherwise want to simply live their lives normally.

    by Stand Strong on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 08:56:19 AM PDT

•  Why is it that

  All the right wingers in their effort to say we have not been attacked since 9/11 and that the fight them there so we don't fight them here overlook the Anthrax scare?

  by chap on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 08:55:06 AM PDT

  •  Why does Richard Cohen

    refer to the leak of Valerie Plame's CIA status as a "run-of-the-mill" leak?

    Is there such a thing?

    by Stand Strong on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 08:57:17 AM PDT

•  Hard not to take this stuff with a grain of salt

  after five years of living in a "Code Orange" world. At what point does "elevated risk" become "normal risk", anyway?

  Still, the sophisticated training required to graduate from the prestigious Al Qaeda University of Terrorism makes these guys really scary.

  

  I dunno.

  by TerribleTom on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 09:06:04 AM PDT

  •  I hear what you're saying

    but with even a cursory chemical education into such things as fertilizer, gunpowder, and other volatile products, all it takes in the end is someone willing to bide his time to gather the necessary ingredients and do it.

    And I'm sure there's plenty of people over there who are more than willing to do it.

    by Stand Strong on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 09:10:22 AM PDT

•  What to believe?

  It's hard to tell if this is just another security scare tactic or evidence that "fighting them there" was, indeed, an idiotic midea. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that you really can't win against people who are willing to kill themselves to kill you, too.

  by highfive on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 09:17:22 AM PDT

  •  Point well noted

    by Stand Strong on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 09:22:08 AM PDT

  •  It's frontpaged by Drudge.

    What does that tell you?

    Also, ABC news is always the first to breathlessly air the latest "terror threat" spoonfed them by government sources, and run with it as the lead on their Nightly "News."  They've been the first to leap at stories regarding that sorry-assed loser punk from California who styles himself as the American Al-Quaeda, even though the guy is an obvious dimwit reject.  Often they'll run with it and the other networks will ignore it. It always curiously disappears after a day. Just like this story will.

    by Dartagnan on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 09:30:06 AM PDT

    •  It was on Glenn Beck

      last night.

      Was watching at pool. Luckily, the TV screens run silent except for football night.

      by kredwyn on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 10:18:48 AM PDT

•  Imagine a foreign army on U.S. soil.

  Imagine that they've killed hundreds of thousands of us, including children, raped American women, thrown us into prisons and tortured us, leveled some of our cities, destroyed our infrastructure and economy, and installed a puppet government.

  Imagine the level of our hatred.

  Now imagine what Americans would be willing to do against such an enemy.

  Stop the war now, before the chickens come home to roost.

  Start acting like you live in a democracy.  --Noam Chomsky

  Iraq Moratorium Day!

  Defenders of the Black Hills

  Pretty Bird Woman House

  Let Sibel Edmonds Speak

  by chesapeake on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 09:45:17 AM PDT

•  Y'know?

  I have never seen footage of a suicide bomber graduation before. Last videos of bombers, yeah...but never an actual graduation class.

  How weird...

  by kredwyn on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 09:50:51 AM PDT

•  Yeah, I saw that

  Taking into account both TerribleTom's and highfive's comments, we can't be sure if the threat is real or just another fabrication of misinformation at the hands of our own but nonetheless, I suppose the threat is real, considering these people are willing to die to kill us.

  My first reaction was 'uh huh, nice attempt at a misdirection, but we still want to know about those emails, George.'  But then I read all of the comments on the ABC blog.

  Did you read the comments?  Ouch.  Scary, the people who live around us.  I blogged about this today  (my own little blog) because I was so... depressed at the content of the comments alone.  

  If I were to have made my own comment out there, this is what I would have said:

  OK. Fine. Why don't we just give up democracy completely, or any remaining pretense of it, and become a giant, war-making factory with the sole intent of bombing the hell out of the rest of the world.

  Oddly, after WWII our apparently crazy 'Greatest Generation' grandfathers thought otherwise, and under the Marshall Plan rebuilt Europe -- and Japan.

  And guess what..? Europe and Japan actually liked us afterwards. In fact, they loved us. Until we started pushing everyone around, that is.

  But for awhile, we really were greeted as liberators. And Japan even kinda, sorta forgave us for dropping a couple of  nuclear bombs on their heads. I'm not sure I could have done that, but they managed it. All because we behaved in a generous, intelligent way after the war.

  If we had helped these people in the Middle East initially and continually, rather than simply using them to get to the oil, we wouldn't be destroying ourselves and the world right now.

  Al Qaeda took issue with our abandonment of Afghanistan after we secretly helped them fight the Russians, and then left them without any support in the aftermath (yes, Ron Paul was right about 'blowback.' The truth hurts, doesn't it?) They also didn't like our bases in Saudi Arabia. But of course, we had to pound our military chest and demand that 'our will be done,' even in someone else's country.

  Of course they hate us. Everyone hates the neighborhood bully; and that is what we have become.

  We could have used our might and money to make the world a better place.  We could have dismantled our war machines - all of us - and now be effectively addressing climate change, rather than threatening to blow each other off the planet. Our children might have had a future here on planet earth. But I guess there wasn't enough money in that, right George? Right Dick?

  Had we actually cared at all about the well-being of Iraq after we initially invaded, we would have gotten their electricity on ASAP instead of locking down the oil fields. We would have restored their infrastructure, provided them a safe environment, given out food -- basically been the liberators we were pretending to be.

  So sure, guys -- bombs away, until there's nothing left of the planet, greedy corporations and their bomb-making factories. Because that is the ultimate end-game here, when everyone has nukes and global hatreds grow stronger by the day.

  Maybe the next round of creatures that arise from the primordial muck will prove a little smarter than we were. Perhaps a little less greedy. One can only hope.

  by feduphoosier on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 10:04:22 AM PDT

  •  how old do you suppose the footage is?

    by kredwyn on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 10:16:46 AM PDT

  •  Great commentary!

    This administration is so incompetent, I'm surprised there haven't been any more attacks here. What has changed since 9/11 in terms of national security? Just because they pissed all over the Constitution and make us take our shoes off at the airport doesn't mean squat. I am so sick of the fear-mongering and scare tactics and a government that lets thousands of our  kids die and be dismembered for absolutely nothing.  I'm not going to win any popularity contests for saying this, but maybe it is time to fight them here.  

    by moneysmith on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 11:44:03 AM PDT