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I would be kinder on IsraelReader comment on item: Israel's Strategic Incompetence in Gaza Submitted by sohila (United States), Jan 13, 2009 at 00:27 Israel cannot be expected to tackle the Islamist menace on its own - particularly when the US war on Iraq ended up so badly and completely eroded the US image throughout the world. Unless there is a stronger consensus throughout the world that Quranic Islam is a menace that must be treated as a malignant cancer, the problem cannot be solved by Israel alone. Israel badly needs strong, reliable and equally intelligent allies in this battle. A nation of 5 million can hardly be expected to combat the hate-filled propaganda machine of over a billion muslims many of whom sit on land gushing with oil. India is another nation that faces the Islamic menace on both its Eastern and Western borders. But look at the sheer idiocy and timidity of its government. And note too how the US and its NATO allies continue to harbor dubious illusions about the Islamic state of Pakistan and keep putting pressure on India to make peace with a state that gets all its dyanmism from a faintly veiled desire to bleed India idefinitely. Please don't burden Israel with a mission impossible . Lets look more at building a genuine international coalition that addresses the issue at all levels - at the idealogical level, the propaganda level, the diplomatic level, the cultural level, the economic level, the political level and finally the military level. Leftists and liberals and even political moderates have come under the sway of Islamic propaganda throughout the world. This makes Israel's task inordinately difficult. That is why it needs a response that extends far beyond Israel. I would indict Israel's enemies and so-called "friends" before attacking the already heroic nation of Israel. Just look at the ham-handed way the West is fighting the war in Afgahanistan. Instead of relying on Pakistan, the West should have supported the Baluchi freedom struggle to create a modern democratic secular state that could have provided the US with an alternative and much safer route to Afghanistan. The people of Gilgit and Baltistan are craving freedom from Pakistan. Those areas could likewise be easily liberated providing to acquire another staging ground free from Pakistani Islamist control. Keep in mind that you can't wage a consistent and believable propaganda was against a nuclear Iran when you are completely silent on a larger more dangerous nuclear Pakistan. This is not to say that Pakistan can be defeated immediately. But dismembering it by liberating Baluchistan offers not only a new lifeline to Afghanistan but creates a new potential headache for Iran on its Eastern border and cuts off any connection between an Islamic Pakistan and an Islamic Iran. None of this can be done by Israel alone. It can however be done by the US and NATO if they are truly sincere and smart enough. An Iran cut off from Pakistan with US/NATO troops on either border will be a far less arrogant and confident nation. Although there are US/NATO troops in Afghanistan - they are too dependant on supplies and military support from a duplcitious and deceitful state like Pakistan. To any intelligent observer, it should be more than obvious that Pakistan is playing the West for a patsy. Which is typical of all Islamic states. They say one thing - only to mean something else. To weaken Iran, one must also weaken its friends and neighbors. One of the unintended outcomes of the Iraq war is now an unexpected but more deadly pan-Islamic unity that extends beyond traditional Shia and Sunni rivalries. Thus we see the strengthening of ties between Sunni Saudi Arabia And Shia Iran - between Shia Iran and Sunni Pakistan - between Shia Iran and Sunni Malaysia and Sunni Indonesia. The US has framed this whole war wrong. It is not simply about a war against terror. It is about the growing danger of a pan-Islamic unity that eventually wants to turn the whole world into either a graveyard or an unchallenged Islamic Ummah. The real war is between those who want to live based on modern secular humanist values and those who want to resurrect a mythical Islamic "paradise " in which all non-Muslims are either slaves or annihilated. The propaganda war has to be against the very source - the Quran (of the Medina verses) and much of the Hadith. The world can pretend that it can co-exist with Islam - but that is a delusion. Israel is furthest along in understanding that delusion - but so far, that has not been sold to the rest of the world. Israel cannot do it alone. It needs help from others - starting the US. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (162) on this item
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