U.S. Invasion of Iraq Ignited Flames of Global Jihad
Ironic, isn't it? By invading Iraq, President Bush provided the impetus and fuel to fan the flames of global jihad, in effect, creating what he sought to destroy. By totally misreading the sentiments in the Middle East, the West, in its arrogant ignorance, is again mired in a quagmire of its own making. By attacking Iraq, Bush gave Islamists a global rallying cry. By failing to commit enough troops to win the war and by failing to find the gumption to rule a country unequipped to govern itself, Bush has created a breeding and proving ground for global terrorism with American soldiers as practice targets.
Bush and his cronies thought they'd be heroes. That by attacking Iraq, the U.S. would be liberating Iraqis from a cruel tyrant and the Middle East from a cancer that had twice attacked its neighbors. "Most Americans sincerely believe that the U.S. armed forces entered Iraq with benign, even generous, intent and that the invasion would eventually be seen in that light," explain Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, former National Security Council staff, in their illuminating book, The Next Attack. The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting It Right. Once America removed Saddam Hussein from power, they were sure "the road would be clear for the emergence of a new and free Iraq" and that Iraqis would hail them as liberators and embrace their new-found freedom.
But radical Islamists interpreted these events differently. While the U.S. and the West saw their involvement in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo as missions of liberation, radical Islamists interpreted these events as cunning efforts to harm Muslims, as "ceaseless depredations by America," say Benjamin and Simon. "Inevitably, any U.S. move on Iraq was bound to be taken as the most dramatic confirmation of their narrative and, given the low level of trust for the United States in the Muslim world, an unparalleled opportunity for the Islamists to win converts to their cause."
To Westerners, the Iraqi insurgency is both troubling and puzzling. Americans can't understand how Islamic terrorists can hope to win the hearts of their people when their acts are so often directed at their fellow Iraqis. "But the failure is one of American comprehension, not insurgent strategy," Benjamin and Simon explain. "The jihadists have been clear about their simple goals: Kill Americans, kill any foreigners allied or supporting them, kill Iraqis working with the Americans, and ensure that the American project of reconstructing Iraq fails." They have been amazingly effective.
By arrogantly assuming that the people of the Middle East share Western values, ideals, and sensibilities, Westerners have again doomed themselves to failure. Decades ago during another quagmire of Western creation, an Englishman became an unlikely Arab hero. Often accused of being more Arab than English, T. E. Lawrence may have been one of the few Westerners to truly understand the Arab. In light of world events, his words are illuminating, "The Arabs have no halftones in their register of vision. . . . They exclude compromise and pursue the logic of their ideas to its absurd ends, without seeing the incongruity of their opposed conclusions. Their convictions are by instinct, their activities intuitional. "
In trying to snuff out terrorism by invading Iraq and attacking Afghanistan, Bush has fanned the flames of Islamic hatred, enabling it to ignite across the globe, threatening to annihilate us all.
Bush and his cronies thought they'd be heroes. That by attacking Iraq, the U.S. would be liberating Iraqis from a cruel tyrant and the Middle East from a cancer that had twice attacked its neighbors. "Most Americans sincerely believe that the U.S. armed forces entered Iraq with benign, even generous, intent and that the invasion would eventually be seen in that light," explain Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, former National Security Council staff, in their illuminating book, The Next Attack. The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting It Right. Once America removed Saddam Hussein from power, they were sure "the road would be clear for the emergence of a new and free Iraq" and that Iraqis would hail them as liberators and embrace their new-found freedom.
But radical Islamists interpreted these events differently. While the U.S. and the West saw their involvement in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo as missions of liberation, radical Islamists interpreted these events as cunning efforts to harm Muslims, as "ceaseless depredations by America," say Benjamin and Simon. "Inevitably, any U.S. move on Iraq was bound to be taken as the most dramatic confirmation of their narrative and, given the low level of trust for the United States in the Muslim world, an unparalleled opportunity for the Islamists to win converts to their cause."
To Westerners, the Iraqi insurgency is both troubling and puzzling. Americans can't understand how Islamic terrorists can hope to win the hearts of their people when their acts are so often directed at their fellow Iraqis. "But the failure is one of American comprehension, not insurgent strategy," Benjamin and Simon explain. "The jihadists have been clear about their simple goals: Kill Americans, kill any foreigners allied or supporting them, kill Iraqis working with the Americans, and ensure that the American project of reconstructing Iraq fails." They have been amazingly effective.
By arrogantly assuming that the people of the Middle East share Western values, ideals, and sensibilities, Westerners have again doomed themselves to failure. Decades ago during another quagmire of Western creation, an Englishman became an unlikely Arab hero. Often accused of being more Arab than English, T. E. Lawrence may have been one of the few Westerners to truly understand the Arab. In light of world events, his words are illuminating, "The Arabs have no halftones in their register of vision. . . . They exclude compromise and pursue the logic of their ideas to its absurd ends, without seeing the incongruity of their opposed conclusions. Their convictions are by instinct, their activities intuitional. "
In trying to snuff out terrorism by invading Iraq and attacking Afghanistan, Bush has fanned the flames of Islamic hatred, enabling it to ignite across the globe, threatening to annihilate us all.
I have to say that Donald Rumsfeld has a disproportinate amount of credit for this huge debacle.
By actively deleting troops that the staff at the Pentagon felt necessary for Iraq, Rumsfeld nearly singlehandedly assured our failure in Iraq.
The cronism that has plagued the selection of key personnel to go to rebuild Iraq has been a political debacle and an issue of not who is right for the job, but who you know and are you loyal to the President.
There are so many errors that have occured in judgement in this whole escapade that it will be hard to believe that America will be able to extract itself at all.
I have to say that I believe the next Presidential campaign will pivot on the war in Iraq and how quickly we can bring our troops home.
For me, I ask if we spent nearly the 8 million dollars per day that is currently being spent daily on efforts in Iraq on securing our borders and ports here in America versus pouring money into eager American and Iraqi contractor hands, who default on projects or over spend their monies due to ever mounting security costs, we would probably be more secure.
Posted by The Watcher | Tue Sep 26, 07:53:00 PM EDT