NBC reports that before we invaded Iraq, the White House declined to attack the Ansar al-Islam base in the confines of the nortern no-fly zone because destroying that organization would hurt the case for invasion. I have no way of knowing whether this story is true, but the circumstantial evidence is compelling. We knew Ansar al-Islam was working on biological weapons and that they were interested in attacking targets in Western countries. Under the guise of patrolling the no-fly zone we were already bombing targets in preparation of an invasion. Why didn’t we take out these known terrorists at that point? It’s a question that ought to be answered by somebody.