Important NOT to become needy of chimerical Arab/"international community" acceptance; Teheran nukes need to get back on center stage

Submitted by Rena Cohen (United States), Jul 26, 2006 at 13:09

Dr. Pipes - thanks for your comments concerning the Arab reaction to Hizballah. As you note, it is not surprising that the Arab reaction to the Iranian-backed Hizballah is less than enthusiastic, the Iranians, after all, having had little to no use for Arabs (and the feeling is mutual) and the Shi'ites and the Sunnis having a long history of enmity and bloodshed.

As your closing paragraph notes, it is particularly important at this time for the U.S., Israel, the U.S. Jewish community, and just about anyone else who wants to see jihadi terror from whichever camp it is forwarded thrown into the dustbin of history at the end of the day to be very much on guard against any dreams of Israel finally being "accepted" or of Arab nations being willing to actively ally themselves with either Israel or the U.S. to seriously fight jihadi terror. The Wahabi Saudis, who continue to front and forward and fund terror for THEIR faction as hard as they can, are -- unsurprisingly -- not happy to see the Shi'ite Iranians making moves in the region and arming themselves with nuclear weapons. They may condemn those moves, but they are hardly about to tolerate a situation where Israel -- or the West -- are really left in peace to pursue "haram" religions and beliefs (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, or even just plain old capitalism...).

As to the Egyptians, the Jordanians, and even the tormented Lebanese (and yes, I am very, very sorry to see those people suffering yet again and insist that their suffering is on Hizballah's head and their blood on Hizballah's hands) -- they are on the horns of more than one dilemma, and their elites will continue to try to balance themselves in one direction or another to avoid falling into the yawning Wahabi or Shi'ite traps waiting to snap up their power and their countries and swallow them whole. However, despite all of the money paid out by Washington to Mubarak and all of the noise about our "Arab allies," the truth is that there is only one thing that will ever really stop jihadi terror, and that is its complete, utter, and unquestionable defeat. Ultimately, compromises, alliances, and all the rest will simply not work. The much-vaunted Bush "two state solution" is stillborn, because the problem can no longer be solved in the Middle East -- the fight has been rendered an international struggle by the jihadis from both the Sunni and Shi'ite camps. The dissolution of the initial discussions between Sec of State Condoleeza Rice and the (cowed, as always) Europeans and the (hate and fear filled, as always) Arab representatives about the situation in Lebanon, which is right now being very much publicized by the media, speaks for itself.

I wish Israel, the United States, and any people determined to be free of jihadi terrorist dictates much strength. We are all going to need it. I also wish we could get the focus back on the issue of Iranian nuclear ambitions while Israel is doing its best to deal with Hizballah's and Hamas' terrorist aggression, as Teheran has gotten the issue conveniently off center stage by sparking this current conflict.

Best - RC

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