Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

Playing follow the leader, al-Zarqawi has now released his
own video, a first. Coincidence? I doubt it. You see him in pictures, bearded,
dressed in black, with shots of him shooting. The message couldn't be more insulting
or infuriating. What this maniacal savage has to say about U.S. troops just
about sent me over the edge. I calmed down before blogging, because if I hadn't
I surely would have regretted it. Counterterrorism
Blog has more, including a link to the full video. Also make sure you see
Walid
Phares' post, which is quite intriguing.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group that includes Senators Levin and Reed have offered a resolution that
“would put the Senate on record as urging the president, for the first
time, to specifically link the continued presence of American forces to the
Iraqis meeting their own self-imposed deadline.” Excuse me? A “self-imposed
deadline.” Why not just call it a suggestion? This is extremely frustrating,
especially coming from Senator Reed, a West Point grad and an Army Ranger and a paratrooper, who served in the 82nd Airborne Division as an Infantry Platoon leader, a Company Commander and a Battalion Staff Officer. We're now going to let the Iraqis dictate
whether we can withdraw troops? It's in essence what we have now. A “self-imposed
deadline” is absurd. It's looking like you're doing something without doing
anything.

First Democrats offered Strategic
Redeployment, which no one backed. We had Jack Murtha speak up.
Russ Feingold offered his pleas on withdrawal as well. Then just recently Senator
John Kerry offered an
amendment that would put specific tasks on the table for the Iraqis and
Bush to accomplish moving forward. In addition, John Kerry has a petition that
is asking for the Iraqi legislators to form a government by May 15th or loose
our support. The Iraqi people have long ago become discouraged with the people
for whom they risked their lives to vote.

Today, I was pleasantly surprised to get a new BlogAd, which
appears at the top right corner. You can read about Kerry's amendment, then
sign the petition to encourage the Iraqi legislators to do what the Iraqi people
elected them to do, which is to form a permanent government, by clicking on
the links within the ad. It's very important to
support John Kerry's efforts. They're the only ones right now that have any
teeth to them.

Al-Zarqawi doesn't want a permanent government formed, neither
does bin Laden. But in the vacuum that Bush and Rumsfeld have created through
their incompetence and meddling, al-Zarqawi's “Zionist” ramblings
only make the atmosphere more dangerous for the Iraqi people.

It was not possible to confirm its authenticity, but it was posted on a Web site that al-Zarqawi’s group and others have used to post Internet messages. Al-Zarqawi previously has made statements only through audiotapes posted on the Web, although photos of him obtained by the U.S. government have been widely circulated. In the video, al-Zarqawi also accused the West and the United States of waging a “crusader” war against Islam but said Muslim holy warriors were standing firm. “When the enemy entered into Iraq, their aim was to control the area and support the Zionist state,” al-Zarqawi said. “But here we have been fighting them for the last three years.” He also mentioned Jerusalem, saying that while fighters are in Iraq, “our eyes are on Jerusalem, which cannot be regained without a guiding Quran and a triumphant sword.” Zarqawi appears in rare Web video

We all know that Bush and Rumsfeld have destroyed whatever chance there was
of the Iraqi people having a government of any independence. Iran will be on
one side, with Bush on the other. But the status quo chaos is worse. I wish
I could say the permanent government offered much more, but Bush's war has failed and the Republicans who control Congress have let the war get worse by backing everything Bush and Rumsfeld have done. That said, the Iraqi people need to have faith that their lives have
a chance of improving. We need to get out of the way.

John Kerry's amendment and his petition are important, especially as we come
up on May 1, the day Bush announced “mission accomplished” on an aircraft
carrier. Please take a moment to read the amendment and join Kerry in the fight
to get our troops out of the cities of Iraq. We have to do that before we can
get out of the long-term bases Bush and Rumsfeld have built and where he
plans to keep us engaged until he's long gone, leaving us stuck with this mess.