It’s hard to get a

It’s hard to get a bottom line on the Middle East and Terrorism but we need to keep trying, if for no other purpose but to stem the flow of pointless caterwauling from the left about LIES, Niger yellow cake, Bush is dumb, Bush stole the election, WMDs don’t exist, Iraq is worse off, Quagmire, Vietnam, Guerilla War blah blah blah! It’s not just about Iraq, stupid. It’s the whole area. Look at it – from Bali to the eastern shores of the Mediterranian terrorists are creating mahem indicating, surely, that one single fix in Iraq is simplistic. The media’s emphasis on the trivia of day to day events in Iraq is disingenius at best. With the Taliban in Afghanistan neutered and largely routed (or rooted) the centre of the eastern reaches of the Bali- Mediterranian line is starting to stabilize. In the Middle East, with Iraq in the centre of a squabbling bunch of ego-based countries that deprive their people of the wherewithall to prosper and educate themselves, Iraq’s neighbours are now faced with the problem of a stable democracy in their midst. Iran is doing her best to stop the democratic process in Iraq with the Mullahs fighting what appears to be a loosing battle. Watch Iran – with Iraq stable and heading towards prosperity, the Iranians will clamour for more of the same. Saudi Arabia, to the south, has suddenly discovered how to pursue terrorism on its own soil. For many years, a joke, they have just found a cache of 20 tons of bomb making supplies. It’s no longer a joke. Soon, with a working democracy next door in Iraq, the House of Saud will have trouble keeping the peasants down. For years the Princes have raped the soil and spent their oil revenues on stables of Range Rovers; 100 million dollars expeditions to the pleasure spots of London but little for their people. They have paid lip service to fighting terrorism but now will have to face reality. Syria, to the north-west will be under similar pressures. Is Bush dumb? I don’t think so. I learned long ago to judge people on outcomes rather than presentation, and all I see is the world heading towards more democracy. Did he steal the election? I don’t think so. The US has laws, they were tested and Bush announced the winner. Gore won the popular vote by maybe 300,000 votes but thats not the point. More to the point maybe; Gore won 670 counties and Bush won 2,434. I’m not an expert on the US rules of law but this article explains the process fairly succinctly. WMDs don’t exist. Why then didn’t Saddam prove it – thats what the WMD issue was all about. Niger boring Yellow Cake. Get over it folks! The only time intelligence is 100% accurate is after the event. I know, I’ve played the game. If the Intel people were conned, they were conned – big deal. No one went to war based on boring old yellow cake. They went to war for a hundred reasons, most of which we’ll never know, but they all come under the heading of making the world a more secure place for our children. Quagmire, Vietnam, Guerilla War are just words the Left throw around to cloud the waters – and don’t think alot of this isn’t about the US elections in 2004. How long is too long before Iraq settles. Time unquantifiable – but every day, in some small way, Iraq becomes a better place to live. ‘Too long’ may prove to be ‘if it isn’t sorted’ by the elections. In a nutshell – plant the seeds of demoracy in a fertile field and slowly choke the weeds. Original thought – No! Like all of us, my opinions are based on reading and assessing the compilation of the thoughts of many. This article at Flipping Turtle was a primer for this post. I don’t think Bush is dumb but I do think he needs tell us, in words of one syllable, what his strategy is. STRATFOR, a US strategic assessment site has a piece entitled U.S. Strategy: Perception vs. Deception Their penultimate paragraph says it all. This is a much more complex war. That increases — not decreases — the need for strategic clarity among the public and the troops. The United States is not randomly in Iraq, and it is not there because Hussein was a butcher or because he might have had WMD. Those are good reasons, but not the real reason. The United States is in Iraq to force Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran to change their behavior toward al Qaeda and other Islamist groups. The United States already has overwhelmed the Saudis and is engaged in threatening Syria and Iran. This is visible to everyone who is watching. That is why the United States is in Iraq. It might or might not be good strategy, but it is a strategy that is much better than no strategy at all. Read more