The War Against the Islamists

Submitted by Douglas Boggs (United States), Jul 18, 2006 at 22:12

At approximately the same time that Israel opened the Lebanese front, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament announced that Iraq's internal problems were caused by "the Jews." Notwithstanding that, with the exception of military in the Coalition there may be two Jews, probably in hiding, in the entire country of Iraq, the paranoid and bigoted comment about an imaginary enemy makes many of us wonder what we are still fighting for in Iraq.

We have right in front of President Bush and the world an opportunity to turn the tide of this war, an opportunity that, unfortunately, is not likely to be grasped. Israel is currently doing more to fight the Islamists than the United States. The U.S. should, in my opinion, take care of Syria--militarily, if necessary--and use this moment to take out Iran's nukes in a joint and overtly proud allegiance with our number one ally, Israel.

Where would we get the troops? From Iraq, of course. The Iraqi government lacks two features of a viable democracy: (1) There is no separation of mosque and state in the constitution, something necessary for an enlightened democracy. Further, (2) I do not believe that democratic values can be built on Sharia law. When the Coalition does leave Iraq, it will leave behind a civil war, no matter how long we wait. (We could have saved some grief by studying the French experience in Algeria.

It is certainly unfortunate to have to leave such an inconsolable mess behind as what Iraq is and has become. But we have no choice but to let them kill each other, sooner or later. Our troops are needed elsewhere, and very badly. Civilization depends upon it. And for those who doubt if we are wasting our time by further dallying, reflect again on the words of the parliamentery speaker. He speacks for most of the country in a mentality of victimhood with non-existent perptrators.

I have never objected to our invasion of Iraq in the first place, but I do lament the poor planning after we toppled that government, especially a constitution that enables Islamist extremism. It is time to change course. Israel is fortunate to have such a leader as Olmert. His address recently to the U.S. Congress indicated he might be the right leader for this moment in history. We mustn't waste this opportunity.

Douglas Boggs, Kansas City

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