Well, well, well…

They’ve captured two Iranian agents in Baghdad, fomenting much of the murder and terrorism in the newly emerging nation. This, of course, is an act of war.

Allawi has been making justifiably belligerent noises toward Syria as well, saying that he wouldn’t necessarily mind if coalition forces were to take offensive action there.

I wonder how far off we are from a war between Iraq, and Syria and Iran (in which we would participate on the side of Iraq)? That would be a continued draining of the swamp, and we know that a majority of the Iranians, if not the Syrians, would like to see the end of their current government. If so, it would be the next step on the path toward a saner Middle East.

The problem, of course, is that if it happens before November, the conspiracy loons will claim that Bush is going to war out of desperation, in the face of the “exciting” (oh, be still, my heart) John-John ticket, to distract the populace with another war based on “lies.”

One thing that might help in the near term would be a UN resolution condemning Syria and Iran for their attempts to destabilize Iraq. Any bets on whether such a thing would pass? After all, it wouldn’t be condemning the US and Israel, which is the only kind of condemnation in which the UN has shown any historical interest…

For people eager for actual bad news in Iraq, that is. At least that’s what Amir Tehari says:

The Iraqi civil defence corps has gone on the offensive, hunting down terrorists, often with some success. At the same time attacks on the Iraqi police force have dropped 50% in the past month.

There is also good news on the economic front. In the last quarter the dinar, Iraq’s currency, has increased by almost 15% against the dollar and the two most traded local currencies, the Kuwaiti dinar and the Iranian rial.

Thanks to rising oil prices, Iraq is earning a record Pounds 41m to Pounds 44m a day. This has led to greater economic activity, including private reconstruction schemes. That money goes into a fund controlled by the United Nations but Iraqi leaders want control transferred to the new interim government, when sovereignty is transferred at the end of this month.

Despite the continuing terrorist violence Iraq has attracted more than 7m foreign visitors, mostly Shi’ites making the pilgrimage to Najaf and Karbala where (despite sporadic fighting) a building boom is under way. This year Iraq has had a bumper harvest with record crops, notably in wheat. It could become agriculturally self-sufficient for the first time in 30 years…

…”We are coming out of the cold,” says al-Ayyari. “The world should help us put our house in order.” But this is precisely what many in the West, and the Arab world, won’t do.

Having opposed the toppling of Saddam, they do not wish to see Iraq build a better future. Arab despots and their satellite television channels fear a democratic Iraq that could give oppressed people of the region dangerous ideas. The anti-American coalition in the West shudders at the thought that someone like Bush might put Iraq on the path of democratisation…

…Iraq is not about to disintegrate. Nor is it on the verge of civil war. Nor is it about to repeat Iran’s mistake by establishing a repressive theocracy. Despite becoming the focus of anti-American energies in the past year, its people still hold the West in high regard. Iraq has difficult months ahead, nobody would dispute that. But it has a chance to create a new society. Its well-wishers should keep the faith and prove the doomsters wrong.

You know, if Dubya were one tenth the murderous bloodthirsty imperialistic stormtrooper cowboy that the foaming-at-the-mouth rabid left says he is, we wouldn’t be dropping leaflets with reward offers. We’d be dropping leaflets with an ultimatum to give him up in twenty-four hours, allow a monitored exodus, and then MOAB the place.

I’m not saying that’s an appropriate strategy, of course–I’m just pointing out that that’s what the George Bush of their fevered fantasies would do. Or perhaps he wouldn’t even give the warning–he’d just level the town. You know, like most other rulers in the region (who they seem determined to keep in power) would.

I find it difficult to understand how anyone can read things like this and not understand that Iraq is a fundamental front in the war on Islamic fundamentalism.

Titled “The text of al-Zarqawi’s message to Osama bin Laden about holy war in Iraq,” the statement appeared on Web sites that have recently carried claims of responsibility for attacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

“The space of movement is starting to get smaller,” it said. “The grip is starting to be tightened on the holy warriors’ necks and, with the spread of soldiers and police, the future is becoming frightening.”

The statement says the militant movement in Iraq is racing against time to form battalions that can take control of the country “four months before the formation of the promised Iraqi government, hoping to spoil their plan.” It appears to refer to the government that would take office after the elections scheduled for January 2005.

It also says insurgents are planning to intensify attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police, seen as collaborators with the U.S.-led coalition. Calling Iraqi forces “the occupier’s eye, ear and hand,” the statement says: “We are planning on targeting them heavily in the coming stage before they are fully in control.”

[Tuesday update]

Citizen Smash says that this is old news.

The point remains, however.

I find it difficult to understand how anyone can read things like this and not understand that Iraq is a fundamental front in the war on Islamic fundamentalism.

Titled “The text of al-Zarqawi’s message to Osama bin Laden about holy war in Iraq,” the statement appeared on Web sites that have recently carried claims of responsibility for attacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

“The space of movement is starting to get smaller,” it said. “The grip is starting to be tightened on the holy warriors’ necks and, with the spread of soldiers and police, the future is becoming frightening.”

The statement says the militant movement in Iraq is racing against time to form battalions that can take control of the country “four months before the formation of the promised Iraqi government, hoping to spoil their plan.” It appears to refer to the government that would take office after the elections scheduled for January 2005.

It also says insurgents are planning to intensify attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police, seen as collaborators with the U.S.-led coalition. Calling Iraqi forces “the occupier’s eye, ear and hand,” the statement says: “We are planning on targeting them heavily in the coming stage before they are fully in control.”

[Tuesday update]

Citizen Smash says that this is old news.

The point remains, however.

I find it difficult to understand how anyone can read things like this and not understand that Iraq is a fundamental front in the war on Islamic fundamentalism.

Titled “The text of al-Zarqawi’s message to Osama bin Laden about holy war in Iraq,” the statement appeared on Web sites that have recently carried claims of responsibility for attacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

“The space of movement is starting to get smaller,” it said. “The grip is starting to be tightened on the holy warriors’ necks and, with the spread of soldiers and police, the future is becoming frightening.”

The statement says the militant movement in Iraq is racing against time to form battalions that can take control of the country “four months before the formation of the promised Iraqi government, hoping to spoil their plan.” It appears to refer to the government that would take office after the elections scheduled for January 2005.

It also says insurgents are planning to intensify attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police, seen as collaborators with the U.S.-led coalition. Calling Iraqi forces “the occupier’s eye, ear and hand,” the statement says: “We are planning on targeting them heavily in the coming stage before they are fully in control.”

[Tuesday update]

Citizen Smash says that this is old news.

The point remains, however.

OK, I keep hearing these reports about Al Qaeda types claiming that they will treat western prisoners like their “Iraqi brothers” in Abu Ghraib.

So, what are they going to do? Make them j3rk off while wearing womens’ underthings on their heads? Somehow, it doesn’t seem like them…

Actually, it’s not WWBD.

It’s more like WWAD–what would Acme do?

The Israelis appear to finally have a video confirming what they’ve long accused the Red Cross of–sheltering terrorists in ambulances. Confronted with the evidence, they apparently admitted that there were terrorists in the ambulance, but claimed that it had been hijacked. But as Fox pointed out, the driver never complained. Not, that is, until the video was released.

How much longer are we going to grant moral authority to the increasingly-obviously-corrupt UN, and the ICRC?

Wretchard has (as usual) some very good points in this piece.

Offering up the objective of more United Nations legitimacy or adopting an “exit strategy” in Iraq, as the Democrats have done, does not amount to a strategy. But neither does the open-ended formula of bringing freedom to the Middle East constitute an actionable agenda. It may be a guide to action, but what is needed is a set of intermediate goalposts against which progress can be measured. Some of these might be:

1. The desired end state in Saudi Arabia: whether or not this includes the survival of the House of Saud or its total overthrow;
2. The fate of the regime in Damascus;
3. Whether or not the United States is committed to overthrowing the Mullahs in Iran and the question of what is to replace them;
4. How far America will tolerate inaction by Iraq security forces before acting unilaterally;
5. The future of the America’s alliance with France and Germany;
6. The American commitment to the United Nations.

Each of these hard questions must be weighed according to its contribution to the final goal of breaking the back of international terrorism. Somewhere in that maze, if it exists, is a ladder to victory. Leading the horse to drink presumes that we know what purpose watering them serves; what paths we will travel. Answering these questions will be a heuristic process, one that moves towards progressively better solutions. Finding ourselves in the place we first began is equivalent to defeat. Whether we are further along in Saudi Arabia in May 2004 than on November 2003 is one of the indicators of whether we are winning or losing. But someone has to keep score.

This would also make it easier to sell to the American people, because it would show that we have a plan, and that we are making progress in it. The problem, of course, is that it’s a plan of which much of the world (particularly the dictatorphilic part of it, including some of our “allies” in Europe) won’t approve.