is al Qaeda in Iraq a "myth"?

Billmon shares his thoughts following a conversation with Juan Cole

If you're also a steady reader of Informed Comment, Dr. Cole didn't say much you don't know already. But he did explore one intriguing theory that I hadn't heard before, which is the possibility that all of the players in this bloody game -- and not just the Cheney administration -- may be perpetuating the myth that the Iraq insurgency is now largely controlled by the diabolical Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his band of fanatical fundamentalist fighters, Al Qaeda in Iraq.

This would not only mean that American forces have been on a wild goose chase (in which approximately 10,538 of Zarqawi's "senior lieutenants" have been captured so far) but that both the Cheney administration and the real masterminds of the insurgency are selling the same fraud -- as are our "allies" in Baghdad.