I'm afraid it's more complicated than that. Yes, victory in Iraq is necessary to maintain the credibility of the West; however, it is not the end of the matter. Iran is a wellspring of terrorism; the madrassas in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia spew hatred.
Defeat of the Islamists will take a long time, because it requires more than military victory - their ideas must be proven failures. We can take steps towards this - we should win in Iraq, yes, but additionally, we need to stop being dependent on the Middle East for energy. A sensible policy of building nuclear power stations and reducing consumption of petrol by encouraging the use of diesel is a start towards this. The long term effect would be to rob Islamists of the money to wage war and to show that Islamism provides neither prosperity nor stability.
The one final comment I would add: FreeRepublic has had a lot of bitterness and anger lately. People need to shake off their grudges, be calm and unite - we can be sure that in their lust for power, the Democrats will come together - a fractured conservative movement will not help.
Regards, Ivan
"The one final comment I would add: FreeRepublic has had a lot of bitterness and anger lately."
WOW Ivan, right on. It's been tough reading the last couple of months just for this reason. So many (angry) factions these days. Very sad...
Agree 100% and the islamic terrorist defeat in Iraq will go a very long way to prove that the jihadist ideology has failed.
Iran is a wellspring of terrorism; the madrassas in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia spew hatred.
The defeat of terrorism in Iraq is a fatal blow to Iranian and Syrian terrorist regimes. I expect both regimes to fall sooner rather than later once we achieve the victory in Iraq. Of course an Air War against the Iranian terrorist regime nuclear facilities and their military infrastructures together with its defeat in Iraq will make the collapse even much faster.