A Way Out Of Iraq: Divide The Country
USA Today
August 8, 2006
With Iraq virtually immersed in a civil war, perhaps it's time to partition the country. In the meantime, more U.S. troops should pour in to snuff out the violence. As Israel has shown in Lebanon, brute force is sometimes a necessary evil.
Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist. Bob Beckel is a liberal Democratic strategist. But as longtime friends, they can often find common ground on issues that lawmakers in Washington cannot.
Today: Israel's response to Hezbollah can be instructive to U.S. forces trying to stabilize Iraq.
Bob: The Israel-Hezbollah battle in Lebanon is just the latest in a seemingly endless series of conflicts in the Middle East where civilians suffer more than the combatants. But we need to keep the bigger picture in mind here. With few exceptions, Muslim leaders and a substantial number of their followers agree with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the state of Israel should be exterminated. For radical Islamists this is as fundamental to their faith as Mecca. Muslim leaders believe and teach that the United States is the devil, and it, too, should have no presence in the region. Just look at a Pew Research survey of attitudes toward America among Muslims. By overwhelming numbers Muslims have deeply held negative feelings about the United States.
Cal: You have captured the issue better than the diplomats and many politicians, Bob. It isn't about “two states living side by side in peace,” as the Bush administration repeats like a chant. Israel's enemies could have had that in 1948. This is genocidal, unrelenting, cultural and religious warfare that will not end unless free nations end it. The secular West doesn't understand how any “compassionate and merciful” God could be behind such evil. He isn't, of course, but his name has been appropriated by the radicals to justify the kind of evil that places Hezbollah terrorists among civilians. They use them as human shields. When the Israelis respond to shelling of Israeli civilians, Lebanese civilians are killed and Israel is blamed.
Bob: And Lebanon is the example, we are told, of democratic progress in the Middle East. President Bush, in his second inaugural address, called for democratic elections around the world. The Middle East had several. In the past two years, Palestinians voted for a terrorist group, Hamas, to lead their government. Iranians elected the anti-Semitic Ahmadinejad as president. And, in the supposedly successful “Cedar Revolution” in Lebanon, Hezbollah, the terror group that attacked Israel and started today's conflict, now makes up 11% of the national assembly. In Iraq, where the United States presumably has some influence, members of the newly elected parliament call U.S. forces invaders. So in the Middle East, democratic elections provided legitimacy to forces that hate democracy.
Cal: I fear you may be right, though I'm not yet prepared to cede the point that democracy can't work in at least some countries in the region. Democracies take time even in the best of circumstances. When religion is involved it can take much longer because it is difficult to negotiate and compromise with people who believe they have a divine mandate to do things their way. There is even disagreement within Islam as to who are “heretics” and who are in the “will of God.” Our system works because no one is allowed sufficient power to consistently impose policies that reflect a single and narrow point of view.
Bob: Thus amplifying the importance of our separation of church and state.
Cal: Certainly our Founders knew how religion could, and should, exist in a democratic society. Religion is part of our mix, but it doesn't get to dictate to everyone all the time. And no one cleric has the power to make rules for us all. Part of the problem in the Middle East is that, with the exception of Israel, most nations are closed societies. Their media spew inflammatory anti-Semitic and anti-American propaganda. Their schoolbooks are full of hate, teaching a new generation the grievances of their parents. If that could be ended and their media opened to competing ideas instead of propaganda, democracy might have a chance.
Bob: We have tried Cal — especially in Iraq — and the signs there are not good. It appears that the United States is now virtually alone there. The British have done their share admirably, but in the end, the burden is on America. European nations have done virtually nothing. Our allies in the region, such as the Saudis and Jordanians, sit on the sidelines while our soldiers die. Enough is enough. The Kurds have essentially partitioned themselves off from the Sunnis and Shiites who, no matter what Bush thinks, are in a civil war, with Americans in the crossfire. It's time to consider partitioning the rest of Iraq. If the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites were essentially autonomous, with a very loose central governing authority, the United States could get out.
Cal: The Kurds have done themselves proud in the north. They are advertising on Web pages (theotheriraq.com) and limited other media for tourists to come to “the other Iraq.” They have relative peace in the north precisely because there are no religious and political rivalries. But in the south, separating the Sunnis from the Shiites may be the only solution. It's worth a try, particularly if the bloodshed continues.
Bob: You know, Cal, I wonder what countries like France — which criticizes Israel for its forceful retaliation against Hezbollah — expect Israel to do. A limited response would have left thousands of Iranian-supplied rockets in southern Lebanon, still aimed at Israel. Every nation has the right and responsibility to protect its citizens. If Israel had not been aggressive, the terrorists on its borders would feel free to continue to attack and kill with impunity. I see that President Bush has ordered more U.S. troops to Baghdad to try to stop the sectarian killings that are spiraling out of control. Many military experts recommended more troops at the beginning of the Iraq war. Maybe the president could learn a lesson from Israel here?
Cal: Indeed he could, and possibly he has with this call for more troops to focus on securing the capital once and for all. One southern Iraqi province is now completely in the hands of Iraqis. That's progress. As for France and the rest of Europe, they are playing a dangerous and losing game. They have large numbers of Muslim immigrants who refuse to assimilate into their cultures. Those immigrants — many of them illegal — are building mosques like Starbucks franchises. Britain continues to allow many radical clerics to spew hate from their mosques and publish inflammatory literature. Tony Blair's government had promised to deport them. Will Europe awaken to the problem of its own making only after one, two or three more terrorist attacks, which are surely coming? Has it learned nothing from history about what happens when free people try to appease dictators?
Bob: That's my point about Israel. Facing attacks daily from radical Islamic terrorists gives Israel a perspective Europeans don't see. If attacked, it is necessary to respond strongly and quickly, or wait for the next attack. It's sad, but is there any other way, Cal?
Cal: This is not a conventional war, so it will not be ended in a conventional way. After Israel made too many concessions and did not properly respond to previous attacks, Hezbollah, Iran and al-Qaeda (all members of the same dysfunctional family) calculated Israel is weak and would not fight after the kidnapping of its soldiers and the shelling of its neighborhoods. The proper approach in Iraq is to do what the Israelis are doing — times 10. Send in as many troops as needed to end the escalating violence. Evil cannot be accommodated. It must be crushed, or it will crush us. What will we do if terrorists get their hands on nuclear weapons and send them to their agents in the USA and Europe? What will we do if they threaten to kill millions of us if we don't do their bidding? If we wait for that day, it will be too late. We must act as if that day is coming. If we don't, we can be sure the Islamo-fascists will. They already are.
August 8, 2006
With Iraq virtually immersed in a civil war, perhaps it's time to partition the country. In the meantime, more U.S. troops should pour in to snuff out the violence. As Israel has shown in Lebanon, brute force is sometimes a necessary evil.
Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist. Bob Beckel is a liberal Democratic strategist. But as longtime friends, they can often find common ground on issues that lawmakers in Washington cannot.
Today: Israel's response to Hezbollah can be instructive to U.S. forces trying to stabilize Iraq.
Bob: The Israel-Hezbollah battle in Lebanon is just the latest in a seemingly endless series of conflicts in the Middle East where civilians suffer more than the combatants. But we need to keep the bigger picture in mind here. With few exceptions, Muslim leaders and a substantial number of their followers agree with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the state of Israel should be exterminated. For radical Islamists this is as fundamental to their faith as Mecca. Muslim leaders believe and teach that the United States is the devil, and it, too, should have no presence in the region. Just look at a Pew Research survey of attitudes toward America among Muslims. By overwhelming numbers Muslims have deeply held negative feelings about the United States.
Cal: You have captured the issue better than the diplomats and many politicians, Bob. It isn't about “two states living side by side in peace,” as the Bush administration repeats like a chant. Israel's enemies could have had that in 1948. This is genocidal, unrelenting, cultural and religious warfare that will not end unless free nations end it. The secular West doesn't understand how any “compassionate and merciful” God could be behind such evil. He isn't, of course, but his name has been appropriated by the radicals to justify the kind of evil that places Hezbollah terrorists among civilians. They use them as human shields. When the Israelis respond to shelling of Israeli civilians, Lebanese civilians are killed and Israel is blamed.
Bob: And Lebanon is the example, we are told, of democratic progress in the Middle East. President Bush, in his second inaugural address, called for democratic elections around the world. The Middle East had several. In the past two years, Palestinians voted for a terrorist group, Hamas, to lead their government. Iranians elected the anti-Semitic Ahmadinejad as president. And, in the supposedly successful “Cedar Revolution” in Lebanon, Hezbollah, the terror group that attacked Israel and started today's conflict, now makes up 11% of the national assembly. In Iraq, where the United States presumably has some influence, members of the newly elected parliament call U.S. forces invaders. So in the Middle East, democratic elections provided legitimacy to forces that hate democracy.
Cal: I fear you may be right, though I'm not yet prepared to cede the point that democracy can't work in at least some countries in the region. Democracies take time even in the best of circumstances. When religion is involved it can take much longer because it is difficult to negotiate and compromise with people who believe they have a divine mandate to do things their way. There is even disagreement within Islam as to who are “heretics” and who are in the “will of God.” Our system works because no one is allowed sufficient power to consistently impose policies that reflect a single and narrow point of view.
Bob: Thus amplifying the importance of our separation of church and state.
Cal: Certainly our Founders knew how religion could, and should, exist in a democratic society. Religion is part of our mix, but it doesn't get to dictate to everyone all the time. And no one cleric has the power to make rules for us all. Part of the problem in the Middle East is that, with the exception of Israel, most nations are closed societies. Their media spew inflammatory anti-Semitic and anti-American propaganda. Their schoolbooks are full of hate, teaching a new generation the grievances of their parents. If that could be ended and their media opened to competing ideas instead of propaganda, democracy might have a chance.
Bob: We have tried Cal — especially in Iraq — and the signs there are not good. It appears that the United States is now virtually alone there. The British have done their share admirably, but in the end, the burden is on America. European nations have done virtually nothing. Our allies in the region, such as the Saudis and Jordanians, sit on the sidelines while our soldiers die. Enough is enough. The Kurds have essentially partitioned themselves off from the Sunnis and Shiites who, no matter what Bush thinks, are in a civil war, with Americans in the crossfire. It's time to consider partitioning the rest of Iraq. If the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites were essentially autonomous, with a very loose central governing authority, the United States could get out.
Cal: The Kurds have done themselves proud in the north. They are advertising on Web pages (theotheriraq.com) and limited other media for tourists to come to “the other Iraq.” They have relative peace in the north precisely because there are no religious and political rivalries. But in the south, separating the Sunnis from the Shiites may be the only solution. It's worth a try, particularly if the bloodshed continues.
Bob: You know, Cal, I wonder what countries like France — which criticizes Israel for its forceful retaliation against Hezbollah — expect Israel to do. A limited response would have left thousands of Iranian-supplied rockets in southern Lebanon, still aimed at Israel. Every nation has the right and responsibility to protect its citizens. If Israel had not been aggressive, the terrorists on its borders would feel free to continue to attack and kill with impunity. I see that President Bush has ordered more U.S. troops to Baghdad to try to stop the sectarian killings that are spiraling out of control. Many military experts recommended more troops at the beginning of the Iraq war. Maybe the president could learn a lesson from Israel here?
Cal: Indeed he could, and possibly he has with this call for more troops to focus on securing the capital once and for all. One southern Iraqi province is now completely in the hands of Iraqis. That's progress. As for France and the rest of Europe, they are playing a dangerous and losing game. They have large numbers of Muslim immigrants who refuse to assimilate into their cultures. Those immigrants — many of them illegal — are building mosques like Starbucks franchises. Britain continues to allow many radical clerics to spew hate from their mosques and publish inflammatory literature. Tony Blair's government had promised to deport them. Will Europe awaken to the problem of its own making only after one, two or three more terrorist attacks, which are surely coming? Has it learned nothing from history about what happens when free people try to appease dictators?
Bob: That's my point about Israel. Facing attacks daily from radical Islamic terrorists gives Israel a perspective Europeans don't see. If attacked, it is necessary to respond strongly and quickly, or wait for the next attack. It's sad, but is there any other way, Cal?
Cal: This is not a conventional war, so it will not be ended in a conventional way. After Israel made too many concessions and did not properly respond to previous attacks, Hezbollah, Iran and al-Qaeda (all members of the same dysfunctional family) calculated Israel is weak and would not fight after the kidnapping of its soldiers and the shelling of its neighborhoods. The proper approach in Iraq is to do what the Israelis are doing — times 10. Send in as many troops as needed to end the escalating violence. Evil cannot be accommodated. It must be crushed, or it will crush us. What will we do if terrorists get their hands on nuclear weapons and send them to their agents in the USA and Europe? What will we do if they threaten to kill millions of us if we don't do their bidding? If we wait for that day, it will be too late. We must act as if that day is coming. If we don't, we can be sure the Islamo-fascists will. They already are.
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 9:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home