Monday, December 05, 2005

Blowback Works Both Ways

Every time I've pointed out to someone anti-war that the terrorists aren't making themselves popular in Iraq, that no one in Iraq really wants Zarqawi to win, and therefore we can't lose unless we accede to defeat as we did in Vietnam, that person has been left without much of a response. The possibility that we could be the ones who win by default has generally never occurred to them. That isn't the way the script is supposed to work: It's the U.S. that's the ogre everyone hates, that makes things worse just by being there, that gets blamed for everything they do and everything that the enemy does, that gets a little closer to defeat with every explosion.

Austin Bay has a little story that demonstrates an opposite trend. Gee, even Arabs are capable of acting in their own self-interest, and of perceiving which belligerent is less monstrous. Who'd a thunk it? I am of course being facetious; it's only leftists that really believe that Osama bin Laden is the most popular man in the Third World. Most people worldwide probably regard him as a thug and troublemaker but are simply not empowered to do anything about him. For the last several decades, the money and the guns have been flowing into the hands of mujahideen, not moderates. It's time that trend was reversed.

And let me make the argument that we are achieving good in Iraq merely by being there, and standing in a line-up next to Zarqawi. We build schools; they blow them up. We respect mosques; they blow them up. We guard voters on election day; they...

For two years, al-Qaeda and the die-hard Baathists have been doing their merry best to drive us out of the country with our tail between our legs. They've butchered thousands, committed ghastly public acts of brutality, and occasionally even gone toe-to-toe with our soldiers. They've accomplished jack-squat. The Constitution has been ratified, the elections have gone forward, a new Iraqi army is being trained. From Zarqawi's perspective, all the trends are negative.

And we who are at home, supporting this effort. Need to be making this argument loudly, and publicly, and persistently. This only becomes another Vietnam if we let it.

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