Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline: n/a
Date: 28 September 2006
CANBERRA, Australia - The war in Iraq has inspired some militants to become
more involved in terrorism, but they would have found an excuse to do so
anyway, the U.S. ambassador to Australia said Thursday.
Robert McCallum, a former senior lawyer at the U.S. Justice Department and
personal friend of President George W. Bush, entered into the fresh debate
on the issue spurred by the release of U.S. intelligence that the war in
Iraq is breeding deep resentment of the United States and fueling terrorism.
"The world community of responsible nations is far safer now than it was
before the United States and its partners and allies went into Iraq,"
McCallum, who took up his post in Canberra in July, told Australian
Broadcasting Corp. radio.
But he added, "Iraq has energized a portion of what I would call a fanatical
extremist group to be involved perhaps more than they otherwise would have
been, but there is always some excuse," he said. "If it were not Iraq, it
perhaps would be Afghanistan."
Parts of a bleak National Intelligence Estimate made public this week reveal
Washington's top analysts concluded Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for
Islamic jihadists, who are growing in number and geographic reach. If the
trend continues, the analysts found, the risks to U.S. interests at home and
abroad will grow.
Since the intelligence was released, Bush has renewed his insistence that
the Iraq war has made the world safer, and that the United States and its
allies are winning the international fight against terrorism.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch supporter of Bush who has
ordered Australian troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, rejected the intelligence
assessment, saying the same agencies had reported that deposed dictator
Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction _ a claim later proved false.
McCallum said all democracies and people who believed in personal freedom
were at risk from terrorists.
"I certainly think the United States is at risk and Australia is at risk
regardless of whether either country was in Iraq," the ambassador said.
"Sept. 11 proves that."
Byline: n/a
Date: 28 September 2006
CANBERRA, Australia - The war in Iraq has inspired some militants to become
more involved in terrorism, but they would have found an excuse to do so
anyway, the U.S. ambassador to Australia said Thursday.
Robert McCallum, a former senior lawyer at the U.S. Justice Department and
personal friend of President George W. Bush, entered into the fresh debate
on the issue spurred by the release of U.S. intelligence that the war in
Iraq is breeding deep resentment of the United States and fueling terrorism.
"The world community of responsible nations is far safer now than it was
before the United States and its partners and allies went into Iraq,"
McCallum, who took up his post in Canberra in July, told Australian
Broadcasting Corp. radio.
But he added, "Iraq has energized a portion of what I would call a fanatical
extremist group to be involved perhaps more than they otherwise would have
been, but there is always some excuse," he said. "If it were not Iraq, it
perhaps would be Afghanistan."
Parts of a bleak National Intelligence Estimate made public this week reveal
Washington's top analysts concluded Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for
Islamic jihadists, who are growing in number and geographic reach. If the
trend continues, the analysts found, the risks to U.S. interests at home and
abroad will grow.
Since the intelligence was released, Bush has renewed his insistence that
the Iraq war has made the world safer, and that the United States and its
allies are winning the international fight against terrorism.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch supporter of Bush who has
ordered Australian troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, rejected the intelligence
assessment, saying the same agencies had reported that deposed dictator
Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction _ a claim later proved false.
McCallum said all democracies and people who believed in personal freedom
were at risk from terrorists.
"I certainly think the United States is at risk and Australia is at risk
regardless of whether either country was in Iraq," the ambassador said.
"Sept. 11 proves that."