JDG wrote:
You should ask the people of Samarra how badly we're losing it right now.
First a diversion, unrelated to the question.
I can tell you how we don't win the war on Islamic terror - that is by leaving in place economic sanctions that inflamed Arab resentment against the United States around the world, and led in large part to at least one act of terrorism right here in the US.
Then some sanctimonious hyperbole addressing the inverse of the question.
There's no question that building a free Iraq is a difficult task, but the War on Islamic Terror can only be won with a free Iraq and a free Middle
East, and I do believe that the US remains up to that task.
You are right, John; absolutely correct. The problem is that just as you can not get a child to like his vegetables by shoving them in his mouth and holding his lips closed, you can not force democracy and freedom on a nation or on a region. Especially when you do it as ineptly as the Bush administration has attempted to do it.
And talk about inflaming Arab resentment, Bush has done more to incur the wrath of the Middle East than anyone could have imagined. As Hans Blix said recently:
"I think, like everybody else, that it is good that Saddam (Hussein) is gone. The world is better off without Saddam.
"But the world is not any safer. If this was meant to be a signal to terrorists to stop their activities, it has failed miserably, it has stimulated terrorism.
"And it doesn't stop proliferation. The Iranians and North Koreans, if they are up to that, they are not stopped by it.
"So I don't think that any of the aims, except getting rid of Saddam himself, have succeeded."
What's worse, IMO, is that we have exposed the limitations of our power. How do we threaten/cajole/bargain with Iran or Korea when they see the difficulty we have encountered in subduing resistance in Iraq?
-- Doug _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
