I draw your attention to Staff Statement No. 15 :
http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/ ... ent_15.pdf
(My emphasis underlined, not theirs)
With al Qaeda as its foundation, Bin Laden sought to build a broader Islamic army that also included terrorist groups from Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Oman, Tunisia, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Somalia, and Eritrea. Not all groups from these states agreed to join, but at least one from each did.
At least ONE terror group from Iraq joined Bin Laden and his group of hoods.
That's enough for me. Obviously, they weren't terrorizing their own country (Iraq) and bin Laden knew he could draw them into his battles.
Furthermore, notice that al Qaeda consists of several committees - the Shura (bin Laden's close-knit group of advisors), the Sharia (for issuing fatwas), the military committee (for training), the finance committee (obvious), the foreign purchases committee (for acquiring weapons and equipment), the security committee (for intelligence), and the information committee (for propoganda). I'd imagine the Iraqi group could have been involved in one of those.
Finally, we all know, but I'll just repeat it for those who seem to have forgotten -- bin Laden's fatwa (as quoted in the report) was "to kill the Americans and their allies" including "civilians and military." Furthermore, he said that it was "an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it." So he was instructing not just al Qaeda, not just Taliban, and not just Afghanis. He was appealing to all Muslims, Middle Eastern (that included Iraq) and otherwise, to kill Americans and their allies (that means Italians too).
Why isn't the media focusing on this? Hasn't it been clear from Day One? They want to kill us and they'll kill themselves trying. They believe they'll be martyrs for doing so. And we have to stop them.
