Iraqis Burning Mosques By The Scores As Situation Deteriorates
If the U.S. military had destroyed scores of mosques and blew up one of the most historic Muslim shrines, can't you imagine the reaction in the Muslim world?
Yet when the Muslims blow up their own mosques, there is little protest or reaction. Too much of Islam is insensitive to the most barbaric acts. It prefers to protest cartoons and tries to destroy the freedom of the rest of the world.
These people in Iraq show themselves to be the dregs of the earth. It may become inevitable to dismember the country, give the oil to the Kurds and the Shiites, and let a rump Sunni Iraq starve.
In an ediorial Feb. 24, the London Times commented, "Until now, Iraq's neighbors have pretended the turmoil on their doorstep was none of their concern, while giving covert and deadly support to some of the extremists leading the insurgency. Now all can see where such irresponsible meddling leads to polarisation, desecration and the brink of civil war. The reaction has been as depressing as it is familiar. Most of the Arab world, so angrily denunciatory of the insult perceived in the Danish cartoons, has remained silent. Iran's deluded President has gone further: the destruction of the golden dome at the Askariya shrine was the work of "defeated Zionists and occupiers," he ranted to a crowd, insisting that the Americans had bombed the mosque because "they oppose God and justice."
"If others in the region hope to halt such reckless incitement before it spills over into their own countries, it is time to edo something now..."
I favor this solution. The U.S. policy of placating Sunnis hasn't worked. We ought now to pay some attention to what is in our interest above all others. The Kurds are willing to be our allies. They should be given all of the country they want. And unless the Shiites are willing to fight for themselves, we shouldn't lift a finger for them.
It was a mistake in retrospect to try to preserve or improve a country which has a 4,000-year-old record of tyranny. After going along with one foul dictator after another, the Iraqi people as a whole deserve nothing, and its constituent parts might be better able to make something out of themselves.
The U.S., again in retrospect, should have reacted decisively when the rebellion began, with a broad pattern of bombing the most recalcitrant areas in the so-called Sunni Triangle to teach this woeful collection of undeserving religious fanatics the same kind of wholesome lesson the Germans and Japanese got in World War II.
By comparison, Afghanistan, with its tradition of independence deserves better of the world.
So we may have come to a decisive point. U.S. understanding of the Iraqi people and their desires, if they have any that are rational, is not fundamentally necessary. There is no reason for that country continue to survive as a whole. The danger, of course, is that a dismembered Iraq could lead to a dismembered Middle East.
Yet when the Muslims blow up their own mosques, there is little protest or reaction. Too much of Islam is insensitive to the most barbaric acts. It prefers to protest cartoons and tries to destroy the freedom of the rest of the world.
These people in Iraq show themselves to be the dregs of the earth. It may become inevitable to dismember the country, give the oil to the Kurds and the Shiites, and let a rump Sunni Iraq starve.
In an ediorial Feb. 24, the London Times commented, "Until now, Iraq's neighbors have pretended the turmoil on their doorstep was none of their concern, while giving covert and deadly support to some of the extremists leading the insurgency. Now all can see where such irresponsible meddling leads to polarisation, desecration and the brink of civil war. The reaction has been as depressing as it is familiar. Most of the Arab world, so angrily denunciatory of the insult perceived in the Danish cartoons, has remained silent. Iran's deluded President has gone further: the destruction of the golden dome at the Askariya shrine was the work of "defeated Zionists and occupiers," he ranted to a crowd, insisting that the Americans had bombed the mosque because "they oppose God and justice."
"If others in the region hope to halt such reckless incitement before it spills over into their own countries, it is time to edo something now..."
I favor this solution. The U.S. policy of placating Sunnis hasn't worked. We ought now to pay some attention to what is in our interest above all others. The Kurds are willing to be our allies. They should be given all of the country they want. And unless the Shiites are willing to fight for themselves, we shouldn't lift a finger for them.
It was a mistake in retrospect to try to preserve or improve a country which has a 4,000-year-old record of tyranny. After going along with one foul dictator after another, the Iraqi people as a whole deserve nothing, and its constituent parts might be better able to make something out of themselves.
The U.S., again in retrospect, should have reacted decisively when the rebellion began, with a broad pattern of bombing the most recalcitrant areas in the so-called Sunni Triangle to teach this woeful collection of undeserving religious fanatics the same kind of wholesome lesson the Germans and Japanese got in World War II.
By comparison, Afghanistan, with its tradition of independence deserves better of the world.
So we may have come to a decisive point. U.S. understanding of the Iraqi people and their desires, if they have any that are rational, is not fundamentally necessary. There is no reason for that country continue to survive as a whole. The danger, of course, is that a dismembered Iraq could lead to a dismembered Middle East.
posted by Ken Reich at 9:17 PM
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