The awful truth about Iraq

Today Diana West posts a long e-mail from an American soldier in Iraq. It begins with his executive summary:

You correctly assessed that we have not gained anything positive from our efforts in Iraq and that the nation is not our ally. (The same is true for Afghanistan.) I will go as far as saying that the Iraqis are our enemies—enemies better equipped to wage jihad against us than they have ever been. We will regret what we have done. We will regret that we created this officially Islamic nation. And we will regret that we created an officially Islamic Afghanistan. We will regret that we have placed ourselves in the service of Islam, waging jihad worldwide as we advance the Religion of Peace and eliminate Christians in the process. (So much for the accusation that the U.S. is on a “Crusade.”) It is a shame that so many people refuse to recognize how horrible Islam is, and that the U.S. made a fatal mistake when it refused to declare war against Afghanistan and Islam—when it refused victory by binding the greatest military force of all time.

— end of initial entry — LA writes:

I’m reminded of the summer of 2005, when the Iraqis voted for a constitution that made sharia the supreme law of the land. I told David Horowitz about it, and he wrote back to me saying this was a disaster. But then he immediately adjusted to reality, and resumed his all-out support for the Bush Iraq Democracy project, never, to my knowledge, expressing in print any concern that installing democracy in Islamic countries would inevitably mean empowering … Islam.

It’s an interesting question whether Horowitz will ever get his head straightened out on this. On one hand, he’s a strong supporter of Geert Wilders, who stands for the idea that Islam as such is a mortal threat to our existence. On the other hands, he supports the Bush/neocon policy of cultivating the chimera of “moderate” Islam by spreading democracy in Muslim countries. But since there is not and cannot be any such thing as moderate Islam, our intense involvement in and effort to build up Muslim countries inevitably results in our empowering and accommodating ourselves to Muslims—Muslims, not “moderate” Muslims. Muslims who by the unchangeable dictates of their religion are commanded to be our enemies.

On second thought, I don’t think Horowitz will ever straighten out his mind on this, because that would mean admitting that the cause to which he has given his soul for the last eight years was disastrously wrong. He was able to do that once, when he renounced Marxism. I don’t think he can do it twice. Also, I don’t think he ever believed in and adored Marxism to the same degree that he believes in and adores Bushism.

- end of initial entry -

Rick U. writes:

What struck me was the writer’s observation that we have improved our enemy’s capability through the so-called war effort. I don’t think I have ever heard the argument framed in just that way. It makes sense but is still a bit counter-intuitive at first thought. Then, after I thought about it for a while, it made perfect sense, and it carries enormous power coming from somebody who is over there and see’s the real life outcomes of events on the ground. There can be little doubt that we have empowered our enemies in the long run, look at the Taliban and how that has run afoul in Afghanistan and Pakistan all because of the way we now wage “war.”

At some point, we will be forced to wage a real war on Islam and probably kill tens or hundreds of thousands, and then, if we are smart, we will fall back, warn them to leave us alone, and separate ourselves from Islam as you recommend. There is apparently no other way to deal with this pernicious culture.

Hannon writes:

Re the soldier’s letter to Diana on U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, I thought this was an excellent observation I have seldom or never seen expressed elsewhere (particularly the first bolded part—my bolding). This appears toward the end of his letter:

First, I wonder how many people have considered how successful the September 11, 2001 Islamic attacks were. Think about what they accomplished. They thrust Islam to the center of the world; they undoubtedly caused more people to learn about Islam than would have prior to their attacks. And the attacks combined with the near non-response of the U.S. doubtlessly gained them converts. Furthermore, what response the United States did produce resulted in the establishment, enrichment, and training of the officially Islamic nations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the enrichment and training of countless other Muslim nations around the globe. Islam now stands better suited than ever to wage jihad across the world. The September 11 attacks also resulted in Muslims being portrayed as victims around the world (thanks to their leftist allies) and helped them (again, with an assist from their leftist allies) advance their jihad even as Muslims and leftists further vilified Christianity, America, and Western values. And finally the crowning achievement of the September 11 Islamic attacks: eight years after them the United States places as its leader a person whom can at best be described as an anti-American, racist, Islamic sympathizer (and who has the same name as an infamous Islamic dictator). This is stunning. It is bizarre. It is incomprehensible. Yet it is our nightmarish reality. The Islamic attacks on September 11, 2001 achieved success beyond the wildest dreams of the Religion of Peace cultists.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 26, 2010 03:50 PM | Send