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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elsewhere who wrote (148944)	10/25/2004 12:20:42 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

The majority of the world doesn't agree that the Iraq war equals fighting Jihad. What the rest of the world believes and what is true may very well be two different things. The rest of the world was very unconcerned for a long while Hitler built up his armaments and invaded here and there. His perceptions were not managed by resolute action at the critical time. If he had been taken down before he did a lot of damage, a tremendous amount of blood and treasure would have been saved. Note: I am not trying to goad you by making Hitler an example. He simply seems to provide a very good analogy, in my view. The Jihadists scorn us for our weakness, for our failure to deal with them resolutely at a time when we have the resources but not the will to do so. American weakness in dealing with the Islamists after what I call the Laundry List of Shame [Iran, Desert One, the Marine barracks in Beirut, Khobar Towers, the two embassies in Africa, Somalia, WTC 1993, Tora Bora, and the plot to kill Geo. H. W. Bush] invited 9/11. The disaster of 9/11 was also fueled by the US but in a more indirect fashion, namely, our support thanks to Jimmy Carter and Brezinzki of the Afghan insurgents against the Soviets. After the Afghans' success, for which we were partially responsible, we failed to engage them, essentially abandoning Afghanistan to the IslamoWacos and, ultimately, Al Qaeda. They somehow became deluded into thinking that they can repeat with the US what they wrongly think they achieved with the Soviets, i.e., destroy a superpower's empire. The perceptions that we are weak and decadent have fueled Jihad. The only way to manage the perceptions is to show force and strength--that to me is the real reason why we are in Iraq and the reason why abandoning it would be deadly. I really do admire the resoluteness and the discipline of the Jihadists. They are tenacious, deadly, disciplined, and can achieve a lot with very few resources. This of course does not mean I condone what they do since I think their ultimate goal is the establishment of global Islamism. But it does mean that we cannot ignore, mollycoddle, or underestimate them. It is indeed an existential struggle, one which I fear most Western Europeans simply do not understand. I hope the Germans do manage to avoid terrorism of the kind we have sustained. I don't wish it on anyone.