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Wretchard: A Bellyfull of War
Before this is over the world will have had a bellyful of war. Each morningâs unbearable news will cast the net wider. Neither the man commuting to work in Central Madrid nor the peace marchers in costume on Market Street can escape being combatants. Leftist sympathies, whether in Israel, America or Europe will prove no armor against car bomb fragments. War was Osama Bin Ladenâs goal in attacking the United States on September 11. He hoped to force America into fruitless and ineffectual reprisals against the Islamic world, then offer a hudna at intervals while he prepared his next blow. George Bushâs counterstroke, which history will either judge as an act of supreme folly or genius, was to go beyond Afghanistan into Iraq. In a worthy riposte to Osamaâs, he escalated the struggle to the point where it was mutually mortal. If the fall of the Twin Towers was a gauntlet in Americaâs face, the fall of Baghdad was a glove shoved down the Islamistâs throat. Both Bin Laden and Bush have made compromise impossible. If the jihadis believed they could control the tempo of the conflict they were misinformed; American forces in the Arab heartland have forced a zugzwang (German for "compulsion to move", a chess term - ed.) to compel the game to the bitter end. Posted by: mojo 2004-03-23 |
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