Friday, August 04, 2006

Iraq, Israel, and the United States.

From Diana West in the Washington Times:

Then, of course, there's Iraq, a nation of warring Islamic tribes safeguarded only and barely by the continued presence of American forces, not to mention billions of taxpayer dollars. To date, Iraq's prime minister, president, two vice presidents, assorted imams, and much of its newly free media have publicly condemned one party -- Israel. The fractiously sectarian Iraqi parliament has even come together in rare and unanimous solidarity to condemn the Jewish state. When Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki addressed Congress last month, he declared Iraq to be on "the front line" of the war on terror, and proclaimed Iraqis to be America's "allies in the war on terror." But he also pointedly failed to condemn Hezbollah terrorism -- or, it seems safe to presume, to consider Hezbollah a terrorist group. Like a Mel Gibson bender, this should make us think. Can the United States and Mr. al-Maliki really be talking about the same "terror" war?

Our elites never ask such a question, maybe because it leads to another. Does propping up in Iraq what amounts to a proto-Shariah state that is reflexively anti-Israel if not reflexively pro-Hezbollah constitute victory in the "war on terror"? Call me crazy, but I don't think so. We've already had our victory in Iraq by overthrowing Saddam Hussein. We won't be able to win again until we recognize that our politically correct but factually mistaken view of the Islamic world is out of focus. When we can't see victory on the other side of the cultural divide, we need to look elsewhere.

UPDATE: More of the same. And even more.

No comments: