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Monday, July 31. 2006

The Shi’ite Crescent

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President of Iran

Here we are, over three years since our president authorized and started the invasion of Iraq, and we find out this new government of Iraq, which our government told us was turning a new corner – over and over again for two years – has all but failed; more troops – U.S. troops – are being moved into Baghdad to augment the 30,000 U.S. troops already in the capital, taking troops away from the “heart of the insurgency,” Al Anbar Province, which includes the Syrian Desert, an area that is now largely in the control of the Sunni insurgents, especially in the towns of Ramadi and Fallujah, two locations anyone with a loved one serving in Iraq will be familiar.

And more U.S. troops will be added to Iraq, but in a clever way; as troops rotate in, an equal number of troops rotate out. But, this summer, those scheduled to rotate out have had the orders changed – nobody is leaving.

Yesterday, Sunday, July 30, the Sunday morning talking heads show all said the same thing about Iraq: the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has failed and by association, U.S. policy in Iraq has failed. Maliki even broke with the U.S. position on the war between Israel and Hezbollah by his condemnation of Israel.

Six weeks ago Republicans in Congress thought they had won a great victory over the Democrats, hoping to insure their continued control over Congress with the next elections. The generals in charge of the Iraq War even spoke of troop withdrawals starting in September – just in time for the elections. But that no longer appears to be imminent.

Today, with the emergence of Hezbollah in Lebanon, a Shi’ite crescent looms over the Middle East, from Teheran, Iran, through Baghdad, Iraq, to Beirut. And all of it under the control of the Iranian government, which is now fronted by a president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who publicly and loudly calls for the destruction of Israel. Chris Matthews, on his Sunday morning NBC program, spoke of this crescent and how he was warned, before President Bush started the war in Iraq, by Jordan’s King Abdullah that removing Saddam Hussein from Iraq would create this crescent monster.

Our Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, isn’t welcome in Lebanon, not since the Israelis killed over 60 people in the basement of one home.

This is the state of our country’s influence in the Middle East – and probably in the world – since President Bush launched his little “Let’s spread Democracy” experiment in Iraq.

Mass killing is taking place in Lebanon and our nation is powerless to stop it. The civil war in Iraq is growing and spreading everyday and our troops – under manned since the beginning – cannot stem the bloodshed.

On Friday, during his press conference, the president could add little more than the empty platitudes he’s been using since he started the war in Iraq: “the terrorists are trying to stop freedom and democracy, but they won’t win.” Well, by everyone else’s estimation, the terrorists, led by Iran – not Al Queda – are winning, at least at this moment. Hezbollah, a Shi’ite organization, is now considered a heroic organization throughout the Islamic world and the United States is once again the Great Satan.

Attention has been diverted from Iran’s nuclear program to the war between Israel and Hezbollah and Iran has emerged asthe key power in the region, and by influence of its oil, the world.

We are paying a terrible price for having George W. Bush as president and the Republican-controlled Congress rubber-stamping his policies. And that cost will only get worse in the months to come.

So far we’ve been lucky since the attacks of September 11, 2001, but it’s only a matter of time before we are hit again. Every terrorist organization has been emboldened by the weakened state of the United States, emboldened by the diminishing influence the U.S. has in the world and the growing animosity many people feel towards the United States. It’s only a matter of time.

Last night I was watching the movie Rising Sun, an adaptation of the Michael Crichton book of the same name. It’s about how the Japanese were – are – eating our lunch in the business world. How quaint it seems, this film from 1993, when our biggest worry was the Land of the Rising Sun whipping our asses in business. Now, even Japan is rattling its sabers at North Korea. Even our ally is emboldened to appear more militaristic.

Ah, the good old days, when the biggest threat we faced was an economic tsunami from a tiny, island nation on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Remember when the most popular punch line for jokes was “made in Japan”? Now the most popular punch line is one word: “Dubya.”

Posted by Tim Forkes in NEWS and POLITICS at 03:16 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

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