The problem with the American response to 9/11

Submitted by Anonymous (United States), Dec 24, 2005 at 18:21

Dr. Pipes, there is no question that the threat of Islamic terrorism is real but I beg to differ on your view that amassing US forces near Iraq should somehow make Americans feel safer. The truth is that we have spent more than half a trillion dollars in Iraq with the questionable goal of bringing democracy to a hapless country.

If early results are any sign, then all that this seems to mean is that instead of a secular despot we are going to end up with a theocratic govt. who would be no friend of the United States. All the fruitless exertion in Iraq has also helped take a lot of the heat off the real perpetrators of 9/11, Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri. These two have more than managed to regroup themselves and have used the war in Iraq as a recruiting ground for terrorists with great success.

It is important to realize that the secularization of Iraq is a fundamental pre-requisite to its democratization and there seems to be a wishful thinking that ignores this fact. There is no doubt that Maureen Dowd does not fully understand the designs of Islamists but it is quite important to note that there is nothing much to be gained by forcing democracy on Iraq either. The goal is noble and there can be no doubt that Bush's intentions are unselfish but in the end the results are quite compelling and frankly disturbing.

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