Pre-emptive U.S. policy on terror may be working

Arizona Daily Star ^ | Jan 13 | William Safire

[SandRat]

The strategic reason for crushing Saddam was to reverse the tide of global terror that incubated in the Middle East.

Is our pre-emptive policy working? Was the message sent by ousting the Baathists as well as the Taliban worth the cost?

Set aside the tens of thousands of lives saved each year by ending Saddam's sustained murder of Iraqi Shia and Kurds, which is of little concern to human rights inactivists. Consider only self-defense: the practical impact of U.S. action on the spread of dangerous weaponry in anti-democratic hands.

1. In Libya, Col. Gadhafi took one look at our army massing for the invasion of Iraq and decided to get out of the mass-destruction business. He has since stopped lying to gullible U.N. inspectors and - in return for U.S. investment instead of invasion - promises civilized behavior. The notion that this terror-supporting dictator's epiphany was not the direct result of our military action, but of decade-long diplomatic pleas for goodness and mercy, is laughable.

2. In Afghanistan, a grand conclave of leaders freed by U.S. power surprised the Arab world's doubting despots with the elements of a constitution that leads the way out of the past's abyss of barbarism.

3. In Syria, a hiding place for Saddam's finances, henchmen and weaponry - and exporter of Hezbollah and Hamas terrorism - the dictator Bashar Assad is nervously seeking to reopen negotiations with Israel to regain strategic heights his father lost in the last Syrian aggression. Secret talks have already begun; this would not have happened while Saddam was able to choke off illicit oil shipments to Syria.

4. On the West Bank, incipient Israeli negotiations with Syria - on top of the overthrow of the despot who rewarded Palestinian suicide bombers - further isolates the terror organizations behind Yasser Arafat. Under the pressure of Israel's security fence, and without the active support of Egypt and Saudi Arabia (each eager to retain protection of a strong-willed Bush administration), Palestinians now have incentives to find an anti-terrorist leader who can deliver statehood.

5. In Iran, the presence of 130,000 U.S. troops near the border was not lost on the despot-clerics in power, who suddenly seemed reasonable to European diplomats seeking guarantees that Russian-built nuclear plants would be inspected. Colin Powell has been secretly dickering with the so-called reform ayatollah for a year in hopes of being on the right side of a future revolution. The old "Great Satan" crowd has just barred four-score reformist Parliament members from seeking re-election. That panicky crackdown in Tehran is a sign of the rulers' weakness.

6. In Iraq, where casualties in Baghdad could be compared to civilian losses to everyday violence in New York and Los Angeles, a rudimentary federal republic is forming itself with all the customary growing pains.

But we did not depose Saddam to impose a puppet; we are helping Iraqis defeat the diehards and resist fragmentation to set in place a powerful democratic example.

Columnist Jim Hoagland cautions that it is too early to proclaim that nonproliferation is "spinning into control." But taken together, this phased array of fallout to our decision to lead the world's war against terror makes the case that what we have been doing is strategically sound as well as morally right.

William Safire is a columnist for The New York Times, 229 W. 43rd St., New York, N.Y. 10036; e-mail: safire@nytimes.com.

[eno_]

You have put your finger on the missing piece: Moslems hate us. Most not enough to pick up a gun and kill the first American they see, but neither will they help us find the ones that do. Only a minority of Moslems hold modern enlightened tolerant views of religion. Only a small minority do not cheer the extermination of Jews.

Islam has forfeited standing as a legitimate religion.

[Valin]

Wasn't it OBL who said something about people always supporting a strong horse over a weak hourse?

[Valin]

Islam has forfeited standing as a legitimate religion.

And who's to say that?

[Cronos]

They surely haven't acted sanely to date, but we can hope ME wackos now understand the US will stand and kill them. Are they sane or not? I have a nagging suspicion that the '72 virgin/martyr bonus' will become a tougher sell, except to the weakest of their kind.

Nope, won't work. They will still have at least a million idiots who'll believe in the 72 virgins and the 20 houris (young boys) to die for the 'cause'. This pre-emptive attack will show them what we're capable of, but it won't dissuade them.

[Cronos]

Only a minority of Moslems hold modern enlightened tolerant views of religion. Only a small minority do not cheer the extermination of Jews. Islam has forfeited standing as a legitimate religion.

No, the "bad" ones hold the modern enlightened tolerant views. The "good" ones who follow the KORN do cheer.

It hasn't forfeited standing as a legitimate r, because it never was a legitimate R, just a mish-mash of different ideas wrapped in a Arab nationalistic garbe. It's a cult plain and simple, a cult that has lasted a lot longer than even it's founder imagined.

[Valin]

No, the "bad" ones hold the modern enlightened tolerant views. The "good" ones who follow the KORN do cheer

Says who?

It hasn't forfeited standing as a legitimate r, because it never was a legitimate R, just a mish-mash of different ideas wrapped in a Arab nationalistic garbe. It's a cult plain and simple, a cult that has lasted a lot longer than even it's founder imagined.

Once again, says who?
Now while I have REAL problems with Islam it's not my job to say it's not legitimate (1,400 some years say otherwise)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Best statement yet , of what the Bush Doctrine has done for us and the world !

[blackie]

Pre-emptive U.S. policy on terror may be working ~ Bump!

The democrats are sad ~ very sad!

[Marie Antoinette]

bump for reference