Another Thought

The view put forth by Lee Harris in his most recent article, if it is correct, may help illustrate why it is so important that we succeed in Iraq. What do Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, et al seek to gain by carrying on a feud of this sort with the West? Prestige. Fame. Respect. Loyalty. Power. Their long-term goal may be the destruction of the West, but they want to be the ones to hold power when the new Caliphate rises from the ashes. They know they cannot conquer militarily, but they can gain political prestige and power by showing an ability to harm the West. Al Qaeda are looking to command the loyalties of Muslims by showing that they and their followers and imitators can accomplish great things. They want to use these loyalties to secure their own political power throughout Europe and the Middle East. Ultimately, al Qaeda's attacks on the West have more to do with Middle East politics than with any issue of Islam vs. the West. They seek to rise to power by showing the Muslim world a path to greatness. To do this, they have to show that their Islamist ideology is superior to our Western way of life. During the 1990's and until 9/11, they could do this by attacking the West and watching as we did little or nothing. After 9/11, we decided to get into the game, driving the Taliban from power in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, and now we are working to establish democratic societies on both places that can stand the test of time. It is through succeeding here that we will prove that the way of al Qaeda, politically, is inferior to our way.

If we succeed in establishing stable democratic societies in Iraq and Afghanistan (no sure thing), especially in spite of the best efforts by al Qaeda to stop us, we will have shown that a) democratic government is superior to the Islamist tyranny offered by al Qaeda, b) stable democracy is possible in the Islamic world, and c) the path offered by al Qaeda leads to defeat. Nobody likes to follow a loser, and if we can overcome the likes of bin Laden and Zarqawi on their home turf, we will have shown them to be incapable of delivering on their promises. On the other hand, if we pull out of Iraq, they will have shown themselves to be superior to us, and their prestige, clout and power will only grow. Furthermore, emboldened by our retreat, they will continue to use this feud to advance their agenda until they have enough power to challenge the West on the same level we can challenge them. Right now, they can only win of we throw in the towel. We cannot afford to allow things to progress to the point where they can win in spite of our resolve. Whether or not the invasion of Iraq and the removal of Saddam was justified or not, we're in it now, and the only way we can afford to emerge from this is victorious.

Right now, we're powerful enough to fight this as a war. They can only fight this as a feud. Are we going to wait for them to level the playing field before we commit to doing what is necessary to win, or do we muddle through now, brushing off their attacks as the annoyances they are and crush them with our superior might and purpose?