Taking the fight to the terrorists

Submitted by Arun (United States), Oct 27, 2004 at 09:52

Where America is taking the fight to the Islamist terrorists, e.g., in removing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the world stands with America. The world is agreed that we should take the fight to the terrorists.

Saddam Hussein, whatever he is, was no Islamist. He was a Stalinist, who was not above calling for Arab solidarity or Muslim solidarity when it suited him. He did not pose an Islamist terrorist threat to America or the world, the Ansar al Islam, the al-Qaeda related group in Iraq, was fighting ***against*** Saddam.

The war against Iraq was a mistake on several fronts, including what I've mentioned
above. The one that will weigh on us heavily is that this war has given a new lease
of life to Iran's Ayatollah-cracy. After twenty-five years of that failure of government
Iranians were growing restive. It would have been a momentous occasion in the
Islamic world if Muslims themselves threw away a theocracy. The Iraq war has given
the Ayatollahs' government a new enemy in the neighborhood; and a chance to
establish influence on the future Iraqi government. ( One should read into the
Iranian nuclear antics the motivation of creating an issue where Iranians will have
little choice but to support their government. )

In terms of Islamism, where we had a Sunni monster, we've now also created a
Shia monster.

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