The surge in Iraq may be working

But it isn't what is important

The "War on Terror" should be called something like "Resurgent Islam's war on Western Civilization". Iraq is one of the battlefields in that war. So are Thailand, Israel, India, Spain, England, Turkey, Morocco and most countries on the bloody borders of Islam. The enemy is divided into two competing factions. The most prominent, in the public mind, is the Sunni faction, led by Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Just as dangerous is the Shi'ite faction, led by the crazed Mullahs that rule Iran.

Both factions are operating in Iraq with the shared aim of driving out America, and the competing aims of ruling over Iraq after the US has gone. They have discovered that killing each other in large numbers is just as effective as killing Americans when it comes to reducing our nation's will to continue the fight in Iraq.

Under President Bush's leadership, our war aims in Iraq have been limited to establishing a peaceful, democratic government in Iraq. He cites the experience of Japan, a nation thought inhospitable to democracy, even after defeat. But he misses the precondition for Japan's rebirth: defeat.

If the US pacifies Iraq, it will not have defeated Al Qaeda. The terrorists will move to other unstable nations. The Saudi money will still flow to the recruiting grounds in the festering Muslim world. And Al Qaeda will be watching Iraq, waiting for the moment to return. Its spies, agents and sleeper cells will be biding their time. Nor will the US have defeated Iran. The Mullahs will still be pulling the strings on their puppets in Iraq and they will still be building up their military might, nuclear missiles and all.

If the US retreats from Iraq, leaving no substantial military might stationed there, then our enemies will resume their battle to win Iraq and its oil wealth. The only way to stop that from happening is to win the war, not just the battle for Iraq. That means destroying radical Islam just as surely as we destroyed Fascism, Nazism, Japanese imperialism and Soviet Communism. We must fight to win and to hell with anyone on the other side. Muslims who do not join this fight on our side -- and many have joined us -- should fare no better than the civilians killed in German and Japanese cities in World War II.

The real parallel to Iraq is not Vietnam. It is the Spanish civil war, a prelude to a much larger conflict. Stopping that larger conflict from erupting will require the defeat of both radical strains of Islam sooner rather than later, when they have Iraq, nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, biological weapons, and terrorist cells stationed in all our cities.

Mon Aug 27, 2007