Zarqawi agrees with the "wrong place" part of Kerry's analysis of Iraq. In a diatribe published in August 2002, Zarqawi rejected the view of al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had called for taking the terrorist war to Muslim countries, notably Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. "The right place for our war is America, the heart of the infidel power," Zarqawi wrote. At the time, he did not know that he would not get a chance to take his war to America.
Allawi is an alternative to Saddam and Zarqawi if only because, unlike them, he believes the people of Iraq should be given a chance to choose their government and leaders. In that sense, Allawi is "the right man in the right place, at the right time." And that until Iraq experiences its first free elections.
The New York Post gets it right again.
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is far from perfect. But in decided contrast to the Middle East's dictators, strongmen, kings and emirs, he seems downright practical and modest. He wears the "interim" label with pride in a region where rulers are accustomed to serving in office for life. America's enemies, from the Baathist dead-enders to the al Zarqawi Islamofacist cut-throats oppose the right of the Iraqi people to freely choose their own government. So does much of the UN's Hate America crowd. And here at home, we find the Democratic presidential candidate arrogantly declaiming Arabs don't deserve the same freedoms as Americans do. We should just abandon them to the tender mercies of the very people who have been looting, torturing and killing them for decades. All because we are too soft to pay the price necessary to ensure America's safety. That is why not only Allawi but President Bush are the right men at the right time and in the right place at this critical juncture in world affairs. It ought to behoove all freedom-loving men and women to support the Iraqi people's right to choose their next government in free and fair elections. Then and only then will we begin to see the tide shift in the War On Terror.
Amir Taheri, ping!
Make sure you read the entire article. It is loaded with gems.