[Pelham]

You so completely miss the point it’s not worth arguing anymore.

It’s the TERRORISM-sponsorship stupid. Saddam sponsored, aided, funded, and assisted terrorists, of all stripes.

Including Al Qaeda.

Funny that when Claire Sterling was following all this back in the 80s secular Arab terrorism was known to be an ally of the Soviet Union, who the Islamists were busy fighting in Afghanistan. I guess they didn't get your memo that all terrorism is the same.

[muawiyah]

The battle against the Soviets in Afghanistan was undertaken by many factions, including the United States.

You can sometimes end up with some strange de facto allies in a war.

As far as "terrorism" is concerned the Soviets were into that at the time. Later on, during the Afghan civil war following the Soviet withdrawal, you had terrorism vs. terrorism by a wide variety of groups, some Islamofascist, some dopers, some left over military groups, etc.