By Peter Hannaford on 4.27.07 @ 12:07AM
Democrats are only deluding themselves.
Congressional Democrats are in full battle mode. The House has
passed the Iraq military supplemental funding bill with withdrawal
dates; Harry "The-War-is-Lost" Reid continues to rail. Rep. Rahm
Emanuel the other day chose a forum at the august Brookings
Institution to launch an all-out attack on the Bush Administration,
accusing it of causing all modern ills. He was a take-no-prisoners
operative on the Clinton team in the '90s, so this kind of
broadbrush attack is in character.
All of this reflects the Democrats' belief that the polls they
are reading mean that a majority of Americans want us out of Iraq
PDQ. They are mistaking discomfort and anxiety for determined
protest.
The president continues to insist that if we pull out before the
Iraq government is prepared to maintain security, chaos will ensue
and the war on terror will broaden. If the Democrats succeed in
cutting off funding, forcing premature Coalition withdrawal, and
chaos does ensue, look for them to say, in effect, "See, we got out
just in time" -- to try to avoid blame for defeat. That may work
for the short-term, but will rebound on them over time.
Remembering the Vietnam hangover (after the Democrats had pulled
the funding plug), many Americans will be left with a very sour
feeling, especially when al-Qaeda and its allies ramp up their
terror attacks in the wake of an American pullout.
General Petraeus's briefing of Congress the other day made it
clear that sectarian violence has declined approximately two-thirds
since the new counter-insurgency strategy in Baghdad began.
The recent suicide bombings have been by al-Qaeda and its allies
for the purpose of dashing the hopes of the Iraqi people for peace,
undermining its government and intimidating the American public and
its elected officials into believing that the situation is
hopeless.
In their public statements, Senator Reid and his colleagues
continue to act as if they had not heard what General Petraeus told
them; they believe that right up to the present moment the suicide
attacks are between Shi'a and Sunni militias and that this is a
"civil war" in which we should not be involved.
President Bush has spoken often and passionately about the need
to fully fund the troops and their mission until there is a
semblance of stability in Iraq. He says we must fight al-Qaeda and
its allies in the Middle East or we will be fighting them on our
own soil (note that it has been five-and-a-half-years since there
has been an attack here). What he has not spelled out -- and must
-- is the larger reason why we must succeed in Iraq.
As any expert about the region will affirm, in the Arab world
strength is respected (if not loved), and weakness is exploited.
Osama bin Laden tested our resolve several times in the '90s and
found us irresolute. It took the attacks of September 11, 2001, to
awaken us and, to Osama's surprise, we responded with
vengeance.
If we pull out before finishing the job in Iraq we will have set
the stage for the current insurgency, led by al Qaeda and its
allies, to intensify their attacks on a weak government in order to
topple it and replace it with what militant Islamists have wanted
all along, the reestablishment of a Caliphate in Baghdad. The rule
of the Taliban in Afghanistan gives us a sample of the type of
government they would hope to impose.
With a majority of Iraqis being Shi'a this largely Sunni outcome
would be contested. Look for real civil war between Sunni and Shi'a
elements (with some of the latter, such as Muqtada al-Sadr, doing
Iran's bidding in the conflict). The Kurds would opt out by
retiring to their redoubt in the north.
Whether or not Iraq is torn apart in the process. instability
will be the order of the day. Al Qaeda will step up its attacks
elsewhere in the Middle East and South Asia in order to drive
toward its mid-range goal: eliminating all U.S. and Western
influence in Arab/Muslim lands.
Congressional Democrats have adopted the
See-No-Evil-Hear-No-Evil posture in order to focus on their only
goals: winning the 2008 election and escaping the blame for
undercutting our troops in the field.
topics:
Islam, Military, Iraq, Iran, NATO, Oil
