Whistling past the graveyard

An AP story records how bad the Iraq Study Group’s report really is;

“This report is a recognition of the limitation of American power,” said Abdel Moneim Said, head of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic studies in Cairo. “In the short term, America will highly suffer the loss of its reputation and credibility in the region.”

The only limitation to American power is the extent to which we’ll endanger non-combatants. If we had the same disregard for human life as the jihadists, they’d all be smolder piles of ashes by now. And as far as suffering the loss of our reputation and credibility; there’s something worse than being the “Great Satan”? We lost our reputation and credibility in the region back when Jefferson started battling the Barbary pirates.

Mustafa Bakri, an outspoken critic of the U.S. and editor of the Egyptian tabloid Al-Osboa, told a state-run television show that the report indicated “the end of America.”

Now that’s really whistling past the graveyard. It’ll take more than a bunch of Iron Age savages to bring this country and this culture to it’s end. We’ve withstood much worse than anything this odd collection of goat ropers can dish out. That statement alone ought to make the Administration pull out all of the stops for about a month over there. The insertion of about two more combat brigades complete with aerial support ought to teach the Arab Street a thing or two about our limitations.

The Iraq Study Group’s report was the top headline in many Arab newspapers on Thursday, including the Egyptian opposition daily Al- Wafd, which declared: “Bush confesses defeat in Iraq.”

AP must be writing news stories in Egypt, too.

“Al-Qaida must smell victory, but its a negative victory that comes from the defeat of America in Iraq,” Said of the Al-Ahram center said.

In Jordan, Al Arab Al Yawm editor-in-chief Taher al-Adwan suggested that Iran could “fill the vacuum” in neighboring Iraq if Arab countries don’t step up and counter U.S. failures.

“Will the noise of this bullet (the report) reach the Arab capitals, especially the neighboring countries … to push them to formalize a unified Arab position toward Iraq and fill the vacuum by Iraqi national forces who are against the occupation and the Iranian influence,” he wrote.

So I guess there are some Arabs who see the danger in our premature departure. Let’s hope other Arabs hear them through the caucaphonous prehistorical chants of their “leaders”.

 

Category: Foreign Policy, Politics, Terror War