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Originally Posted by mcsluggo
When did al Queda move into Iraq?
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Initially they moved into iraq once we invaded Afghanistan. If you recall the most notorious butcher of iraq was Zarqawi. I haven't tried to back up hitchens here but I expect him correct.
http://www.slate.com/id/2172152/
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The founder of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who we can now gratefully describe as "the late." The first thing to notice about him is that he was in Iraq before we were. The second thing to notice is that he fled to Iraq only because he, and many others like him, had been driven out of Afghanistan. Thus, by the logic of those who say that Afghanistan is the "real" war, he would have been better left as he was. Without the overthrow of the Taliban, he and his collaborators would not have moved to take advantage of the next failed/rogue state. I hope you can spot the simple error of reasoning that is involved in this belief. It also involves the defeatist suggestion—which was very salient in the opposition to the intervention in Afghanistan—that it's pointless to try to crush such people because "others will spring up in their place." Those who take this view should have the courage to stand by it and not invent a straw-man argument.
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Why were they (and like minds) able to gain traction there?
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Al Queda's strategy hasn't been to gain traction so much as it's been to foment a civil war by suicide bombing shia. Their plan was evil and brilliant. Here is a graph of the amount of sectarian violence before/after the bombing of the golden mosque. Their plans have worked to perfection. So it's Al Queda that we are fighting there.
http://engram-backtalk.blogspot.com/...h-of-july.html
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Does direct military intervention strengthen or weaken their position?
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Direct military intervention has definitely been weakening al queda. That's why they've been pushed to the outer suburbs as well as killing a remote religious sect. Their barbaric tactics seem to be backfiring on them, thank the lord.