3.31.2009

A Reality Check: Looking For Mr. Moderate...

Greetings puny Earthlings, sorry for the light posting, but the Known Universe doesn't just run itself. Anyhoo, I think it's time for a quick little reality check.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that she is ready and willing to negotiate with "moderate" elements within the Taliban to usher in peace in Afghanistan. She justifies this tactic by stating that the key to victory in Iraq was "negotiating" with moderate insurgents to create the "Anbar Awakening."

Well, typical of a Democrat she just skims the surface, and forgets that the truth dwells a little deeper.

You see, while Al Qaida was a major force in the Iraq it wasn't the only one participating in the insurgency. There were a dozen or more factions based on ethnic/religious nationalism than the sort of radical trans-Arabic fundamentalism of Al Qaida. In the tradition of the Middle East these factions allied themselves with Al Qaida because they both shared the dream of driving out the Americans.

And that was the only thing they shared.

There were three keys to the Anbar awakening:

1. The nationalist factions figured out that participating in a peaceful democratic Iraq was better than constant civil war.

2. The nationalist factions realized that the Americans had no intention of sticking around forever.

3. The nationalist factions realized that Al Qaida did intend to stick around forever, and that unlike the Americans, they were stone-cold psycho and willing to kill their daughters for flashing some ankle.

The American forces didn't negotiate with these factions, they just left a door open with a big sign that read: "Come in and live, stay out and die."

So let's think about the Taliban.

The Taliban are not nationalists. They are the stone cold psychos who will kill their own daughters for learning to read. They are not going to come in to live, they would rather die, because they honestly believe Allah wants them to live in the equivalent of the arsehole of the planet.

So I'm not holding out any hope that Hillary will find any moderates out there.

Keep watching the skies, because we're watching you.

1 comment:

Porkchop said...

Howdy Lord MoxArgon,

I am glad to see you back, i hope running the Universe isnt getting to be too much... take a vacation... im thinking of taking one to China in May/June... if you show up there ill get you some Peking Duck... but anyway

as someone who has been in Iraq for going on 4 years now... I would have to say your assessment is correct... Mrs. Clinton is talkiing about things she doesnt seem to understand... but then again... Taliban and Al Qaida are our friends... and Israel