Hit the link for the rest of this article, it provides a very cogent analysis of the work that must be done in Iraq by the USA, and why that work needs to be done. A very refereshing perspective.
Posted on 05/12/2007 10:20:03 PM PDT by Candor7
Monday's events brought that impact home starkly. On the one hand, the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad came as the US wages a seemingly last-ditch attempt to defeat the insurgency in Iraq. On the other hand, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's performance at the Natanz nuclear installation where he said, "With great pride, I announce as of today our dear country is among the countries of the world that produces nuclear fuel on an industrial scale," indicated that he for one, does not believe he has anything to worry about from America.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Hit the link for the rest of this article, it provides a very cogent analysis of the work that must be done in Iraq by the USA, and why that work needs to be done. A very refereshing perspective.
bump - excellent analysis
IMHO, Ms. Glick has consistently been among the best journalists covering the Middle East.
Our problems are not IN Iraq. They are, to some extent, WITH Iran, but much more so, here at home, WITH Democrat party leadership and rabid liberal contingent in the media and “activist” organizations.
bump
That's Iraq. For thirty years the people in power learned that life meant arresting, torturing and killing anyone you didn't like. It meant appropriating the country's resources and the people's efforts for your own gratification. The rest of the country learned that feeding one's family and often mere survival requires one to lie, cheat and steal. Perhaps hand a neighbor over to the police to avoid suffering a horrid fate yourself.
As this reporter points out, you can't turn such a damaged society into a democracy on just a year or two. Nathan Sharansky (sp?) made the same points in his book. "Democracy" can't mean one man, one vote, one time. If Hizbulla, Hamas and Al Qaida can force people to vote them into power that's not an election any more than Saddam's 100% sweep was. The root of the word election is about a choice. AK-47s remove that choice. Same with Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union. We figured capitalism and democracy would solve everything. Al Gore sent billions that ended up in the mafia's hands and Russia fell into depression.
Respect for basic human rights has to be the norm before a representative government can emerge. That means the people accept that honesty, hard work and respect for others' rights are the only acceptable characteristics for citizenship. They have to see that this will result in a better life than the one they've been living for thirty years. That means a carrot and a stick. People who do what's right have to see good results - jobs, prosperity, freedom. People who don't have to be slammed as they are tearing Iraq apart. But you can't throw someone in jail for stealing to feed his family if there are no legitimate ways to feed them. Widespread profitable employment would dry up the recruiting grounds. You won't build and place an IED for $1,000 if you can make the same money legitimately and working for the terrorists means facing execution if caught.
I really hope Gen. Petreaus' "moral high ground" memo was strictly for show to appease the PC crowd. We need to infiltrate and execute the terrorists before they strike. We're not going to do that without getting our hands dirty. We can't win a war by being buried on the moral high ground. The Iraqi people will see Al Qaida as winning because we were too weak-willed to exercise our power. Once they believe Al Qaida will win it's back to the Jungle - survival by any means possible. Civilization goes back out the window. Like the battles fought for rock creature in the original Star Trek series, the tactics have already been decided. There's no way to fight fire with legal briefs.
Assumption: Many places, especially in the Middle East have similar problems. Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, lots of other 'stans, Libya, the Palestinian territories, Iran. Question: Can this part of the world be saved? If so, how?
I too hope that the "fight fair" fluff is a softener for when he comes back to report to the Armed Services Committee.
This cannot be, is not, and never has been a "fair" fight.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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The Iraq War may yet prove an interesting chapter in Capitalism texts.
Her biggest oversight is she fails to mention how successfully our enemies are in playing our Liberals off against genuine American interests.
Glick is writing from Israeli ground, so has not got the perspective maybe.
Or maybe she is too polite to point out that America's Liberals are of the type that would throw women and children overboard to lighten ship in order to outrun the enemy.
I visit Glick ocassionally, if I don't see her articles on FR. She always has a gem hidden away somewhere.
The “fair fight” speech as I see was little more than a reminder to the troops to uphold the traditions of the US Military and to adhere to things like the UCMJ and Geneva Conventions. Regardless of what the other guy does. That alone provides us the moral high ground.
It only takes one incident to tarnish the image of the entire effort. Real or perceived. That was the tragedy of Abu Grhaib. A couple of knuckleheads turned popular Iraqi opinion against us with one act of stupidity.
Those soldiers knew they were doing wrong, and knew, if they had really been ordered, that they could legally refuse orders to do what they did. Every soldier learns that in basic training. They lied when they said they never learned about the Geneva convention.
That is what Petreaus’ speech was about.
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