The Senescent Man

This is what Susan Rice, senior foreign policy adviser to John Kerry's presidential campaign -- who is often mentioned as a possible National Security Adviser in a Kerry White House -- says about terrorist-barbarian Abu Musab al Zarqawi:

"Our position is that he [al Zarqawi] poses a major threat now in Iraq, a threat that frankly wasn't there before the U.S. invasion. But now we have got to go after him and capture him or kill him. Before the invasion, he was in non-Saddam controlled area, very minor, and didn't pose any imminent threat to the U.S., and was not in any way cooperating with al-Qaeda."

But according to Stephen F. Hayes, author of The Connection : How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America, "She's right about two things: (1) that Zarqawi 'poses a major threat now in Iraq;' and (2) 'we have got to go after him and capture or kill him.'

"Everything else is wrong...

"[Among other examples, t]here is little doubt that Zarqawi and bin Laden have had disagreements, both about tactics and strategy. But there is also little doubt that Zarqawi has met with and received support from bin Laden and, contrary to Rice's assertion, [and] had actively cooperated with al Qaeda in the past."

Find out more by reading the rest of it here.