Islamic State of Iraq cont'd

In todays' Strib, Michele Bachmann has an editorial clarifying her position and statements from the interview that caused the drama last week.

In it she discusses separate statements by militants in Iraq claiming to be part of Al-Qaeda and also by the leader of the Iranian Guardian Council heralding the coming of the "Islamic State of Iraq." This then is what she so ineloquently tried to explain in her interview.

I do appreciate her trying to explain her remarks, although I would say that if she mangles her positions this badly when she doesn't have the time and staff to write them, she might want to work on those interview skills a little bit.

Now I do have some issues with her interpretations however (all emphasis mine).

First she says:

Rather, I meant that America's adversaries are in agreement that a divided Iraq benefits their objective to expel America from the region, resulting in Iraq being a safe haven for terrorists.

and she then quotes an Reuters news article saying:

"[A]n Iraqi militant group led by al-Qaeda has called for a separate Islamic state in Baghdad and other areas with a large Sunni Arab population, according to a video posted on the Internet on Sunday."

she then adds:

That same year, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who leads the Iranian Guardian Council, hailed the coming of the "Islamic State of Iraq," believing that the Islamic revolution that had begun in Shia Iran was being exported to Iraq.

This would lead one to believe that the groups that our troops are fighting in Iraq are working together and have a shared objective. However anyone with a little bit of knowledge might notice that the two groups speaking of an Islamic state are Sunni and Shia.

Aren't these the two groups that are currently killing each other when they aren't killing our troops?

I could be wrong but I don't see them collaborating and if they did somehow manage to create the Sunni Islamic Iraq, and the Shiite Islamic Iraq wouldn't they probably be fighting each other.

And let's add that if we are all pro-democracy and against religious based nations, then when are we going to invade Saudi Arabia?