7 Terror Groups That Exist Because of President Bush (updated)

In order to counter the myth that Bush has somehow made the world safer, I keep a running tally of the terror organizations that would not have existed without Bush’s involvement in world politics. In fact, these groups simply could not have existed without Bush’s action. It is important to always remember Bush as the person who brought terror around the world, and destroyed our freedoms. If we fail to remember this, our punishment will be to repeat it.

This list was generated by going through the START Global Terrorism Database and the State Department’s list of terror organizations, and picking out groups that either only exist as a direct result of the Iraq War, or have started after the 2003 invasion of Iraq in order to fight Western forces. From that list, I picked out the organizations that only thrive because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. The resulting list is seven terror organizations that exist as a direct result of President Bush’s involvement in world politics:

1) al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (Now “Al Qaeda in Iraq”) 2003

Anyone with basic understanding of world politics knows that vicious in-fighting prevents the Middle East from uniting and becoming a world power. Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran all hated each other before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Saddam Hussein was a brutal warlord who aimed to destroy anything that threatened his power. This includes Al Qaeda. It is unthinkable that Al Qaeda would ever even stepped foot into Iraq without first disposing Hussein. After overthrowing Hussein, Bush contributed to Al Qaeda’s efforts significantly by giving them the opportunity to cross borders never before imagined.

The founder of al-Tawhid wal-Jihad was a Jordanian Palestinian named Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi. He established cells in Iraq soon after the commencement of the U.S. led Operation Iraqi Freedom. He formalized his group in April 2004 to bring together jihadists and other insurgents in Iraq fighting against US and Coalition forces. Zarqawi and his group helped finance, recruit, transport, and train Sunni Islamic extremists for the Iraqi resistance. The group adopted its current name after its October 2004 merger with Osama Bin Ladin’s al-Qaeda.

Bush single handedly united every radical Islamic militant group by destroying the one thing they couldn’t do by themselves: get rid of Saddam Hussein.

2) Ansar al-Islam (Arabic for “Supporters of Islam”) 2003

Ansar al-Islam now operates as far into Europe as Germany and Sweden. This group promotes radical interpretation of Islam. It was a rag tag band of nobodies before the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Their leader was nothing more than the American equivalent of a mayor, leading a few villages in a border town of Iraq. America chased them out of Iraq, into Iran. Just months before, Iran would have executed all of them. But now, united under a common goal against America, the fleeing militants were welcomed and housed. The Ansar al-Islam group returned from Iran several years later fully stocked, fully emboldened, and are now most noted for their car bombings.

Remember, before the war, Iran and Iraq were at a stand off as a result of the Iran-Iraq War.

3) Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah (Arabic: Group of the Protectors of Sunnah) 2003

You know Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah from their videotapes of American beheadings. Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah is a loose coalition of insurgent groups, brought together in 2003 to fight western forces.

Several of their more well-known bombings were carried out by non-Iraqis, showing that not only former Iraqis are spawning new terrorists groups in the wake of America’s invasion.

They are most notorious for their kidnapings and ambushing. They have carried out bloody attacks against high-profile targets which include the Turkish embassy in Baghdad, the US Military installation in Ramadi, police stations, and airports.

4) Mahdi Army Suspended in August 2008

Mahdi Army was created by the Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003. Saddam Hussein detested the al-Sadr’s family (as in, Saddam killed three of al-Sadr’s family members). Before Saddam’s ouster, al-Sadr was a simple theologian of no remarkable future.

When Saddam was ousted, an interim government was put into place. al-Sadar voiced opposition, saying he had more legitimacy than the coalition-appointed government. He declared a shadow government which gained immediate popularity amongst the local populous.

The group rose to international prominence on April 4, 2004 when it spearheaded the first major armed confrontation against the U.S.-led occupation forces in Iraq.

By 2007, the U.S. estimates that the Mahdi Army has 60,000 militarized followers (no data yet for 2008). His following is so strong that the Iraq government recognizes diplomatic measures with him.

5) Al-Zarqawi Network aka “Tanzim Qa’idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn,” started 2003

Established soon after start of Operation Iraqi Freedom to bring together jihadists and eventually merged with al-Qaeda. Their goal is to expel Coalition forces and establish Islamic state in Iraq, then move to Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. They are responsible for thousands of deaths, including the assassination of key Iraqi political figures, as well as beheadings of Americans.

6) Fatah al-Islam (Arabic: Conquest of Islam)

Fatah al-Islam, is a radical Sunni Islamist group that first formed in November 2006. It is a militant jihadist movement that draws inspiration from al-Qaeda.

Shaker al-Abssi’s was a two-bit thug who was arrested for weapon smuggling. Several courts across the Middle-East had warrants out for his immediate arrest. He would have probably landed back in jail, but in 2003, he went to Iraq to fight against the coalition forces. Iraq became a proving ground for Shaker, and providing connections that he needed to establish a 500-strong military force.

Fatah al-Islam operates out of Lebanon, and is most known for engaging in combat against the Lebanese Army in the Nahr al-Bared UNRWA Palestinian refugee camp in the summer of 2007.

Without the Iraq war, Shaker would still be in hiding as a wanted man by most of the Middle-East.

7) Two Dishonorable Mentions

Though not created as a result of the Iraq war, there are other organizations that have become much more dangerous, aided by side effects of President Bush’s foreign policy.

Iran

From 1980 to 1988, Saddam led Iraq in a war against Iran. Before and after the official war, Saddam attacked Iran consistently. To put it bluntly, Saddam hated Iran. But since Saddam is out of the picture, Iran has since allied with the rest of the Middle East, and is now attending to “more important” things other than strife with Iraq. The result: Record missile testing, unprecedented hostility towards Israel, and the ability to focus on nuclear proliferation.

To compound matters, Bush’s stance on the Georgia-Russian conflict is making Iran stronger. After Georgia sent troops to South Ossetia and Russia sent troops to defend, Bush has taken a hardline defense against Russia. This has lead to Russia seeking allies that are specifically anti-United States in order to prove to America can’t throw it’s weight around when it comes to Russia. (Thankfully though, Russia has made it clear that this is an anti-Bush sentiment than an anti-American sentiment).

The “new” Al-Qaeda

Before 9/11, Bush made common cause with the Taliban in order to wage the war on drugs. The highlighted example is Bush’s decision in May 2001 to financially reward Afghanistan’s infamous Taliban government for its edict ordering a halt to the cultivation of opium poppies. Four months before 9/11, Bush gave the Taliban $43 Million. (Colin Powell suggested and Bush approved)

As of today, most of that $43 million has gone directly towards arming Al-Qaeda and waging the Afghanistan insurgent war of attrition against the United States. Bush further helped stimulate Al-Qaeda by focusing on Iraq instead of the Afghanistan borders.

Conclusion

Before the Iraq invasion, terror groups were isolated, unorganized, and disallowed from participating in the Middle Eastern regional politics. All that has changed because of the Iraq invasion. Now we have new global terror groups, that would never have existed without President Bush’s direct intervention. Keep in mind that this article in no way implies that Saddam ever did a good thing in his life; this simply implies that there is a delicate balance in the world, and instinct-based approaches to world affairs, such as the one Bush employed, can have very bad results.

This article has been written purely from research and verification at DHS.gov, state.gov, and wikipedia.org