This one may have backfired. I heard a list of countries that will become involved and it's close to 30 and growing.
I hope so... Were the UN to back out of Iraq, it would essentially indicate to the backers/leaders of these militants that the Western nations have no resolve to oppose them.. That we will do anything to appease them in order to prevent being targeted by them...
And in a Machiavellian sense, that all they have to do is sacrifice enough of their deluded believers in suicide attacks, and Western states will cut and run, leaving the youth of the Muslim world to their despotic designs of global Jihad.. That we don't believe the future of Arab youth is important enough to risk our lives for...
It's a shame that more people don't understand what's at stake here.. This is NOT just about keeping foreigners out of the Middle East. This is about preventing the waging of another global Jihad, such has not been seen since the founding of Islam as a religion. The Mid-East, being the militant power base, is the first step and they will fanatically defend it. But once secured, they will seek to expand, probably through Africa and Asia.
But 9/11 occurred, not because we overthrew a regime, but because we were (are?) ignoring the socio-economic progress of the region and propping up decadent and corrupt rulers.. We were permitting the region to stagnate with regard to modernization and economic progress, and the reactionary militants have taken advantage of that.
Let the militants consolidate the mid-east, hold the global economy hostage for oil, and they will dictate terms to the industrial free world.
The question we have to ask ourselves is, are we less willing to risk our lives and our soldiers for the values we believe in, than the militants are... It may sound cliche, but that's what it's about. And it ain't going to necessarily be easy, nor cheap. But the several ounces of prevention we expend now, will prevent the pound of cure later... And it's a damn shame that we didn't act more proactively 10 years ago, when the cost would likely have been far cheaper and less bloody for all sides involved.
Hawk@timeforagutcheck.gov |
