U.S. failure feeds jihadist aggression

According to an article in the Washington Post, the 9/11 attack increased anti-U.S. sentiment in Lebanon, because it showed that it was possible for Muslims to hit America. The Iraq intervention has further increased anti-U.S. sentiment, either through the perception that the U.S. wants to change the entire order of the Muslim world, or the perception that the U.S. effort in Iraq has failed. Randall Parker concludes:

If the US is going to use force somewhere it really should be overwhelming. It hurts us to use force incompetently as Jorge W. Bush has done…. [I]f the US pursued a break-up of Iraq into Kurdish, Sunni Arab, and Shia Arab nations the US might be able to exit Iraq in a way that will cause the Jihadis to see the US intervention as a success for the US.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 20, 2006 08:40 AM | Send