Was Iraq an Outlaw Regime?
Has the Iraq war contributed to the fight of civilization against outlaw regimes that support and harbor terrorists? That is the justification one might glean from President Bush’s address on 6 October 2005. The Saddam regime was an outlaw for invading Iran and Kuwait, practicing genocide, and ignoring U.N. WMD inspection mandates. It was an outlaw for aiding and abetting Hezbollah in its terrorist resistance to the occupation of Palestine by Israel. But, you must identify Hezbollah with Islamic radical groups such as Al Qaeda, because of their common use of terrorism as a tactic, in order to label the Saddam regime as a supporter of Islamic radicals.
Islamic radicals have targeted liberal democrats around the world enemies of their salvation. Organizations such as Hezbollah have targeted political goals – defeating the state of Israel’s suppression of the Palestinian political aspirations. They both use terrorism as their major tactic. Islamic radicals have even used sympathy with resistance to Israel as an argument to win Arab support. However, it is important to distinguish between these two movements. One is a violent political liberation action group. The other is a violent network of nihilist, transcendent and anarchist cells.
Terrorism has been used by hopelessly suppressed populations to overturn their rulers since time immemorial. The U.S. has become the object of political terrorism because of its intervention in Iraq. Defeating those terrorists in Iraq will do nothing to end Islamic radicalism. Moreover, it will do nothing to end the use of terrorism for political ends, such as Palestinian resistance to Israel. The latter has to be resolved on its own terms, in cooperation with the acknowledged leaders of Palestine. It will only be an accident if the U.S. invasion of Iraq results in the establishment of a Western-style participatory government there that permits a face-saving withdrawal of occupation forces. Should that happen, political terrorism in Iraq will disappear. All the same, the U.S. and its allies will continue to have a long battle ahead of them against radical Islam.
# posted by frank : 11:27 AM
