pettyfoggery

I’ve always believed, despite my conservative sensibilities, that we’ve always had the right President in office for the times. Yes, even Jimmy Carter, without whom we would have never had Ronald Reagan. If you doubt that, just think if Gerald Ford had been a Democrat. Imagine if just some of Carter’s efforts hadn’t proven to be dismal failures.

So I’m going on record here as saying that we, meaning everyone who has the slightest bit of concern for Western Civilization, NEEDED to make Iraq into what it seems it is becoming: an example of how a nominal Muslim country can proceed forward and act as a template for relative democracy in the Middle East. That could not happen if the people of Iraq had not been subjected first-hand to the horrors of both Islamic Extremism and secular despotism within the period of just a few years.

While other nations and countries were previously thought to be that model, the foremost example being Lebanon, we see that the lines of distinction were not clear enough.

Afghanistan certainly can’t be that model as they are and have been too insular and rooted in the old culture to make the leap. It will take them generations to get anywhere close.

It’s evident from current events in Iraq that not only do moderate Muslims see that they need to separate statehood from religious tenets, but the Theists see it as well.

We cannot overestimate the effect of Al Sistani’s influence in this. Nor can we isolate Islamic teachers’ subsequent pronouncements on AL Quaeda’s practices, now they’ve seen them close to home.

Like I said… there’s a BIGGER reason for everything, even if we don’t understand it at the time.