Forget false democracy, stop real terrorism

Got to hand it to the new Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Here's a guy who, less than two months on the job, has discovered the real enemy of his country. It's not, of course, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — he's dead. It's not other mass murderers of jihad who blow up markets and shoot up schools, who kidnap and maim and chop off heads. It's neither Baathist party holdouts nor "sectarian" violence. It doesn't come from Al Qaeda, and it doesn't come from Iran.

Haditha, of course, is the Iraqi town where American troops are alleged to have killed civilians on Nov. 19, 2005. If American society were not suicidal and self-loathing, this singular incident would be seen in the context of the greater war effort. If American society were not suicidal and self-loathing, the rush to judgment would halt in the imagined tracks of fellow Americans on patrol among hostile, even murderous townspeople. But no. American society is indeed suicidal and self-loathing, so Haditha is portrayed as the culmination of the war even as we giddily judge ourselves guilty as thrillingly charged. But that hardly excuses al-Maliki.

" What we should aim for is an Iraq that is not a terrorist threat, not an Iraq that is a democratic paradigm. "

I think it's a very good summary of the entire article. I would only add is that this goal is not just for Iraq but for the entire Islamic World.

Personally, I would designate Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab States as Sharia zone and the rest of the world as Sharia and Jihad Free zone. Anyone living outside of the Sharia zone who want to live under Sharia Law should be required to move in Sharia zone, so they won't bother the rest of the world with their barbarism. If they want to have Jihad, let them fight with it inside Arabian Penninsula--not outside of it -:)))) Plus they won't be far from Mecca and Medina for Hadj (in between Jihad wars -:)))

Saudi Arabia plus other Gulf Arab States occupy very large area (almost half of the United States) and I think they can handle their fellow Sharia observing Muslims. Plus Saudi princes goot too many empty palaces so they could spare some space -:)))

"Would such a change in mission mark a defeat for the United States in the so-called war on terror? Only if we failed to rethink our overall strategy, particularly as it pertains to our assessment of Islam. That is, if Jeffersonian democracy remains a strategic goal for Iraq, anything short of that goal will be scored as a failure. But what if we accept the politically incorrect fact that our failure to establish liberty and justice for all in Iraq — namely, freedom of conscience and equality before the law — is due to the nature of Islamic culture, not to the efficacy of American efforts? If, five years after Sept. 11, we finally faced the fact that liberty in Islam — defined, literally, as "freedom from unbelief" — has nothing to do with liberty in the West, we could finally understand why an Iraqi constitution enshrining sharia is wholly incompatible with everything our own democracy stands for, and is thus not something worth dying for.

Such a reassessment would remove the "political transformation" of the Muslim Middle East from our war strategy. This would let us focus on the formidable military task of fighting jihad in Iraq and beyond — eliminating, deporting and containing the threat as needed. This is a global war with many fronts, from Iran to Syria to Gaza to quite a few neighborhoods in Toronto, London and elsewhere. It is time to arrive at new ways and means to fight on them. "

This is pretty close to my current thinking. I would just add this: we need to arm the Iraqis as best we can---including some decent tanks and artillery--- and pull out our ground troops---before 11/2008 and before we end up electing Hillary on this issue. Staying in until we elect Hillary accomplishes nothing---since she will pullout all support of Iraq and simply let the Iranians take over. Better to pull the ground troops out before 11/2008 and elect a Republican president who will retain US air power support and keep supplying the Iraqis with weapons and ammunition.

The time for excessive expectations from the Iraqi government is over. The fact is, they can do the one thing needed to bring order in places like Haditha better than the Americans can. I'm talking about vastly loosened ROE.

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