Pretzel logic: Iraq as flytrap

Condoleezza Rice has put the ultimate spin on the subject of Iraq as terrorist haven.

Writing in the New York Times, Douglas Jehl and David E. Sanger relate Rice's blinding flash of revelation:

"There is almost a sense that they were sitting someplace minding their own business — drinking tea, having meetings" and then decided to come to Iraq only after the American military rolled into Baghdad.

"These are fighters, they are jihadists," she said. "They would be fighting someplace. Maybe they would be fighting in the Gulf. Maybe they would be fighting in Southeast Asia. Maybe they would be fighting, or trying to fight, in the United States."

So there you have it. Attracting the world's terrorists to Iraq is a good thing because it keeps them out of the United States.

Of course this ignores the very real possibility that a number of these fighters would not be "jihadists" had it not been for what they perceive as a Judeo-Christian invasion (dare we say Crusade?) into Muslim lands--to say nothing of the growing sense that the greater threat to US forces in country comes not from hard-core Islamist militants, but from everyday Iraqis who are tired of living under military occupation.

And even if you suspend disbelief long enough to assume Condi is right, how many Americans believe that US forces should be in the Middle East to serve as bait?