Oscar Jr. Was Here

Saddam's Terrorist Friends

On NRO, Jed Babbin writes about the connection between the war against Saddam Hussein's regime and the War on Terrorists. Long excerpt:

There is more, much more, than is being reported about the suicide bombing that killed four Americans earlier today. And from a very credible source, I have heard enough to convince me I had to correct something I wrote this morning. This suicide attack does represent an evolution of this war to something far uglier than we may be prepared to deal with. The suicider was not, as the Iraqi vice president announced, an Iraqi army officer. He was a member of Hamas--or possibly a Saudi--and one of many terrorists that are embedded throughout Iraq. This is no longer a war to remove the threat of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and liberate Iraq. Yes, those still are part of our objectives. But it is--much more--a war between our conventional forces and most of the terrorist world.

For many years, Saddam paid a bounty to Palestinian terrorists or, rather, to their survivors. The going rate now is about $25,000 per bomber with bonus money for those who manage to kill more than a few Israelis. Saddam has called in the chips with Hamas, and hundreds of its members are in Iraq. The reports of Hezbollah terrorists coming down from Syria would be old news to the Iraqis. Hezbollah, al Qaeda, and many other terror organizations have been sending their thugs to Iraq for months.

The "Saddam fedayeen" are, in part, a fiction. Yes, there are mostly thugs recruited from Iraq's prisons, given a gun and a uniform and turned loose to terrorize the populace. But among them, and also operating independently, there are hundreds of others who are not Iraqi.

(emphasis added)

Please read the rest. It's disturbing stuff, but I can't resist the thought that this could hasten the end of the overall war. If every Islamofascist terrorist decides to fight in Iraq, it could save us the trouble of finding them later.