"James Bamford observes that the leadership of al Qaeda...."

"James Bamford observes that the leadership of al Qaeda hoped to lure us into a "desert Vietnam," an enormously expensive war that would deplete our resources and help their own recruitment by stirring up the locals against us.  And that is just what happened.  The war's ultimate cost is being estimated in the trillions.  The dollar is collapsing.  And more terrorists are being created.  According to a study by the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Herzliya, Israel, the vast bulk of the foreign fighters in Iraq are people who had never been involved in terrorist activity before but have been radicalized by the U.S. presence in Iraq - the second holiest place in Islam. 

The terrorist, in short, have played us like a fiddle.  With the unnecessary and unprovoked attack on Iraq, our government gave them just what they wanted.

Americans have the right to defend themselves against attack; that is not at issue.  But that is very different from launching a preemptive war against a country that had not attacked us and could not attack us, that lacked a navy and an air force, and whose military budget was a fraction of a percent of our own.  A policy of overthrowing or destabilizing every regime our government dislikes is no strategy at all, unless our goal is international chaos and domestic impoverishment. 

It is time for us to consider a strategic reassessment of our policy of foreign interventionism, occupation, and nation building.  It is in our own national interest to do so and in the interest of world peace.  This is a message that resonates not only with the American people at large but also with U.S. military personnel:  in the second quarter of 2007 our campaign raised more money from active duty and retired military than did any other Republican candidate in either party.  Then in the fourth quarter we received more money in our military donations than all Republicans put together.  This message is popular, and it is based on American security, fiscal sanity, and common sense."  Pages 38 & 39 of The Revolution, A Manifesto