In a recent speech, US President George W. Bush stated that his policy in Iraq is to "stay the course" and not "allow the terrorist to break our will" and "not permit Al Qaeda to turn to Iraq to what Afghanistan was under the Taliban, a safe haven for terrorists and a launching pad for attacks on America".

One should remember that none of these "terrorists" were in Iraq before the USA invaded in 2003.

Al Qaeda had no presence before that time. These "terrorists" flocked to Iraq as a direct result of the invasion: mainly fuelled by the mere presence of invading forces inflaming emotions by the invasion, but also by the instability and power vacuum in the country that insued after the Saddam regime fell.

It is even clear that Abu Mus'ab Al Zarqawi was more of a rival to Bin Laden who became an ally only after the invasion.

Finally, the last bit of irony is that Bush that the terrorists in Iraq "share the same ideology" with those who planned  and executed the September 11th attacks.

If one is a reductionist, this could be taken as fighting others because of their beliefs, not because of their actions!

As someone stated some time ago, the best recruiter for Al Qaeda is President Bush.