Saturday, August 25, 2007

The Main Thing   [Cliff May]

The Ralph Peters story linked this morning on the NRO Web Briefing really is required reading. It makes a point that Andy and I have been arguing for a long time: Any day that we're smashing al Qaeda is a good day — even if the Iraqi parliament isn't marking up a single bill. Ralph writes from Fallujah:

Whatever may have been the situation is 2003, today Iraq is the main front in the war against Islamist terror and fanaticism. Our enemies have made it so.

Of the two simultaneous missions under way - maturing a responsible government and advancing our own strategic interests - the latter is far more important. In fact, it's vital. And on that track, we're making stunning progress. …

 

Al Qaeda is on the verge of a humiliating, devastating strategic defeat - rejected by their fellow Sunni Muslims.

 

If we don't quit, this will not only be a huge practical win - it'll be the information victory we've been aching for.

 

No matter what the Middle Eastern media might say, everyone in the Arab and greater Sunni Muslim world will know that al Qaeda was driven out of Iraq by a combination of Muslims and Americans.

 

Think that would help al Qaeda's recruitment efforts? Even now, the terrorists have to resort to lies about their prospective missions to gain recruits.

 

With the sixth anniversary of 9/11 approaching, how dare we throw away so great a potential victory over those who attacked our country?

 

Forget the anti-war nonsense you hear. The truth is that our troops want to continue this struggle. I know. I'm here. And I'm listening to what they have to say. They're confident as never before that we're on the right path.

 

Should we rob them of their victory now and enhance al Qaeda by giving them a free win? How can we even contemplate quitting now?

 

I've been sitting down with Iraqis, too - including former enemies. They don't want us to leave. They finally cracked the code. They need us. And although they've got a range of their own goals (not all of them tending toward Jeffersonian democracy), they're unified in their hatred of al Qaeda.

 

And it isn't just about al Qaeda, either. This conflict's now about keeping Iran from achieving hegemony over the Persian Gulf and its oil reserves - and preventing Tehran's extremist policy from tearing the Middle East apart. The Maliki government sucks, but, brother, it's still better than an Iranian proxy in Baghdad would be for our security.

08/25 10:30 AMShare