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Wm. F. Buckley seems way off base this week, with this nonsense:
"I can tell you the main reason behind all our woes — it is America." The New York Times reporter is quoting the complaint of a clothing merchant in a Sunni stronghold in Iraq. "Everything that is going on between Sunni and Shiites, the troublemaker in the middle is America."
One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. The same edition of the paper quotes a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Reuel Marc Gerecht backed the American intervention. He now speaks of the bombing of the especially sacred Shiite mosque in Samara and what that has precipitated in the way of revenge. He concludes that "The bombing has completely demolished" what was being attempted - to bring Sunnis into the defense and interior ministries.
The rather elementary mistake Buckley is making is to assume that the only reason we're in Iraq is for the benefit of the Sunnis. Whether the Sunnis split off from the rest of Iraq, or the Shiites root out the violent insurgents among them, the welfare of the Sunnis is not key to our objectives in being in Iraq, which include:
Objective 1 cited here has been accomplished; objective 2 has taken place and is continuing; and with the Iraqi elections and the famous purple thumbs, objective 3 has been well on the way to success -- and per Victor Davis Hanson, who has just returned from Iraq, it is likely to be concluded successfully as well:
Iraq may not have started out as the pivotal front in the war between democracy and fascism, but it has surely evolved into that. After visiting the country, I think we can and will win, but just as importantly, unlike in 2003-4, there does not seem to be much of anything we should be doing there that in fact we are not.
An email sent to this site by Iraqi-American Fawaz Saraf confirms that the welfare of the Sunnis is not key to the success of Iraq:
Two weeks ago, I watched with great dismay, sadness, and frankly horror as Mr. Adnan Dulaimi, of [Sunni political party] the Iraqi Accord Front, on Al-Jazeerah TV, fervently call on Arabs to save Iraqi Sunnis from annihilation, presumably on the hands the Shiite led Iraqi government. Well Mr. Dulaimi, it appears that your Arab brothers must have heeded you call. Your fiery words must have resonated with some of your Arab brothers. They decided that Iraqi Shiites, once again, must be punished. Mass murdering them while they are going about their daily life is no longer enough, so your Arab brothers went after one of their most revered worship places.
After the liberation of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi Shiites and Iraqi Kurds extended their hand to their fellow Sunni Iraqis and asked to join them in building a new Iraq. Yes, they wanted to isolate and prosecute the Baathists (Sunnis and Shiites) who tormented and murdered their communities but they never harmed fellow Iraqis simply because they were Sunnis or simply because they were Not Shiites or Not Kurds. Yet, unfortunately for Iraq, by and large, the Iraqi Sunni community (or perhaps, more precisely, their presumed leadership), could not overcome their resentment over the loss of their monopoly over the government in Iraq. Instead of taking the hands extended towards them by the their fellow Shiite and Kurdish Iraqis, to build a new and democratic Iraq, they sulked, they wanted the “occupier” out, and it almost appears as if that they want the old Iraq back. In their eyes, the murderous insurgency became legitimate resistance, and our liberators became occupiers.
Now, [U.S. Ambassador to Iraq] Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad, wants the Iraqi Shiites and Iraqi Kurds to trust Mr. Dulaimi and his Arab brothers with their future. Mr. Khalilzad is wrong. Mr. Khalilzad’s message to Mr. Dulaimi should be very simple: Accept the new Iraq or the new Iraq will move forward without you. Iraqi Shiites and Iraqi Kurds are unique communities in the Middle East. Their wellbeing, indeed their survival, depends on the continued support of the coalition forces in Iraq.
Why Buckley decided to get out of bed one day this week and absurdly declare defeat is a mystery. But he's declaring defeat on an objective that is not key to American success.
