From Ace of Spades:
Bonus: Murtha Claims JFK Fuel-Bomb Plot Due To Iraq:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST: I want to get back to my first question, but let me pick up on something you said just there. You believe that these homegrown terrorist plots are being inspired by the U.S. work in Iraq right now?
JOHN MURTHA, CONGRESSMAN: Absolutely. George, they were inspired by them all over the world. Our presence in Iraq, our occupation in Iraq, gives these people the inspiration. Now, we didn’t have this problem before, they came from Afghanistan. But, now we even have it in the United States. So, I’m absolutely convinced that this is the kind of thing that inspires these people.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But we did have 9/11 before we went into Iraq.
MURTHA: Yeah, we had 9/11, but that came from Afghanistan. There was no, there was no al Qaeda in Iraq. We don’t even know how many al Qaeda are in Iraq right now. For instance, we think a couple of thousand. They’ll take care of al Qaeda. They’ll get rid of al Qaeda. Our presence is inspiring them to recruit people all over the world. This is the problem we have.
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QUOTHE ACE: It continues to amaze and astonish me that committed Wahhibist religious fanatics who worship Osama bin Ladin as a demigod are not at all nonplussed by our eviction of the committed Wahhabist religious fanatic regime known as the Taliban from Afghanistan, or from our direct attacks on bin Ladin, but are so incredibly angry about our assault on the "secular, unIslamic" Saddam Hussein.
Apparently Al Qaeda and its legions of followers and well-wishers take a highly nuanced view concerning which Islamic countries we attack and which Islamic leaders we depose. Bafflingly, Al Qaeda seems to take the position -- according to Murtha -- that Afghanistan is a "gimme," which they don't get upset about, taking an "Okay, my bad, that one's on me" attitude about the most ideal (and I use that word advisedly) Wahhabist state in the world.
The invasion of Iraq -- the "secular" state that had nothing at all to do with Al Qaeda -- makes Al Qaeda angry. But the invasion of Al Qaeda's home-base Afghanistan? They're just totally chill about it.