Iraq and Afghanistan

As I have often emphasized, terrorism is many things and the war in Iraq is not simply another form of Islamic terrorism. Nevertheless, an excellent discussion of terrorism through analyzing the statements of Islamic terrorists was presented in the Op-Ed page Wednesday. The Islamists talk continually on the internet, and according to these reporters they are getting happier and happier about what is going on. After a downcast mood following the defeat of the Taliban, they now feel that our position in Iraq is about the same as that of the USSR before they were driven out of Afghanistan. They point out to one another our mistake of taking on two guerrilla wars at the same time, and also of fighting insurgents with unlimited access to arms and money. They see the fighting as leading to a religious revival among the Sunnis in Iraq and the whole Islamic world. They regard Iraq as a great recruiting ground for Muslims everywhere. Lashkar-e-Taiba, the leading Jihadist “army” in Pakistan is now shifting its sights from Kashmir to Iraq. They also point to a parallel development among the Shiites among which a leading divine preaches that events in Iraq are a harbinger of the return of the Mahdi. “A fire will come from the sky and swallow up Baghdad”, apparently a kind of Shiite Armageddon. The authors of the Op-Ed conclude by advising us to not be taken in by the Administration’s rosy picture. We are in a mess and will be lucky to get out. In this election season, many are saying this because of their visceral opposition to the President. But these analysts are particularly well informed.

The report in today’s paper from Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, underscores the difficulties. Apparently, while we have been worrying about Falluja, Ramadi has been going from bad to worse. The 400,000 people in the city are essentially out of either our control or that of the Allawi administration. Our forces can guard particular buildings and take convoys through the city. But around every corner there is another sniper. No one feels safe anywhere. And those Iraqis not with the resistance find it in their interest to pretend they are. Again we hear the refrain that the government troops and police are with few exceptions completely worthless, or even worse than worthless. They openly speak of the American soldiers as dogs and talk of fighting them one day. The Marine commanders know they can win any battle, but they seem quite hopeless when it comes to winning the war. The idea of using the Americans in the city to do something other than fight has essentially been abandoned. Reconstruction is at a standstill.