Moveon.org Ad False Claims

Moveon.org had an ad (link) run in the NYTimes Monday Sept 9, 2001 titled,
General Petraeus or General Betray Us?
Cooking the books for the White House
citing:
"And last week Petraeus, the architect of the escalation of troops in Iraq , said ”We say we have achieved progress, and we are obviously going to do everything we can to build on that progress.”"
with the following allegations:

1. "Every independent report on the ground situation in Iraq shows that the surge strategy has failed. "
2. "Yet the General claims a reduction in violence. "(cooking the books)

As proof of Petraeus' fraud, the ad links to a story at the Washington Post:
“Experts Doubt Drop in Violence in Iraq,” by Karen DeYoung. 9/6/07 l
"Challenges to how military and intelligence statistics are tallied and used have been a staple of the Iraq war. In its December 2006 report, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group identified "significant underreporting of violence," noting that "a murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack. If we cannot determine the sources of a sectarian attack, that assault does not make it into the data base." The report concluded that "good policy is difficult to make when information is systematically collected in a way that minimizes its discrepancy with policy goals.""

Note that General Petraeus didn't take over in Iraq until after the Iraq Study Group report cited above was published. Since the Iraq Study Group are used as credible experts in the article when assessing violence in Iraq, what is their assessment NOW? The Iraq Study Group (link) disputes both move.org allegations:

The Political Situation Remains Stalemated Despite Security Improvement
"Though violence remains at high levels, increased American military presence and refocused strategy and tactics have marginally reduced instability in parts of the country, most notably Baghdad, from the worst days of 2006."

The Iraq connection to 9/11/2001

In August, 1996, Osama bin Laden published his fatwa entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places." The Two Holy places refers to Saudi Arabia.

The fatwa describes the source of this conflict against the USA:
"The latest and the greatest of these aggressions, incurred by the Muslims since the death of the Prophet (ALLAH'S BLESSING AND SALUTATIONS ON HIM) is the occupation of the land of the two Holy Places -the foundation of the house of Islam, the place of the revelation, the source of the message and the place of the noble Ka'ba, the Qiblah of all Muslims- by the armies of the American Crusaders and their allies. "

Americans and their allies were still based in Saudi Arabi in 1996, 5 years after the end of the First Gulf War, because of Iraq's refusal to comply with the cease-fire in 1991. US military commander General Zinni saw the continuing presence in Saudi Arabia as a successful policy of containing Iraq.

How did Osama bin Laden view the Clinton Administration's "containment policy" in 1996?

from the fatwa:
"It is out of date and no longer acceptable to claim that the presence of the crusaders is necessity and only a temporary measures to protect the land of the two Holy Places. Especially when the civil and the military infrastructures of Iraq were savagely destroyed showing the depth of the Zionist-Crusaders hatred to the Muslims and their children, and the rejection of the idea of replacing the crusaders forces by an Islamic force composed of the sons of the country and other Muslim people. moreover the foundations of the claim and the claim it self were demolished and wiped out by the sequence of speeches given by the leaders of the Kuffar in America. The latest of these speeches was the one given by William Perry, the Defense Secretary, after the explosion in Al-Khobar saying that: the presence of the American solders there is to protect the interest of the USA."

What finally compelled Osama bin Laden to declare war?

from the fatwa:
"More than 600,000 Iraqi children have died due to lack of food and medicine and as a result of the unjustifiable aggression (sanction) imposed on Iraq and its nation. The children of Iraq are our children. You, the USA, together with the Saudi regime are responsible for the shedding of the blood of these innocent children. Due to all of that, what ever treaty you have with our country is now null and void."

The dead 600,000 Iraqi children are blamed not on Saddam Hussein, but on the Clinton Administration along with support from the Saudi Regime.