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Iraq
"Big Bang" theory: By liberating Iraq, the U.S. set the stage for the destruction of Hezbollah.
2006-07-26
by Josh Manchester, Wall Street Journal

The U.S. invasion of Iraq has so shaken and stirred the Middle East that some exceptionally strange things are happening. More importantly, these things unequivocally favor the U.S. in influencing the outcome of the Israeli-Hezbollah War now taking place in Lebanon.

What sorts of strange things? Well, consider an Arab League meeting in Cairo over the weekend, where a fight of sorts broke out. Jed Babbin described it best:

This meeting began with the Lebanese foreign minister Fawzi Salloukh proposing a resolution condemning Israel's military action, supporting Lebanon's "right to resist occupation by all legitimate means" . . . The Lebanese draft also called on Israel to release all Lebanese prisoners and supported Lebanon's right to "liberate them by all legitimate means." . . . The Syrian foreign minister, Walid Moallem, strongly supported Lebanon and Hizballah. But an historic obstacle was raised that blocked the Lebanese endorsement of terrorism.

The Saudi foreign minister, al-Faisal, led a triumvirate including Egypt and Jordan that, according to the AP report, was " . . . criticizing the guerilla group's actions, calling them "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts." Faisal said, "These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we simply cannot accept them." . . . The Arab leaders are frightened that the acts of the terrorists they have coddled for decades might have consequences for them. And they are very frightened of what Iran may do next."

These regimes would most certainly not be afraid of what Iran may do next if Saddam Hussein still ran Iraq, providing for the Arab world a deterrent against Iran. . . .

The "big bang," as invading Iraq has sometimes been called, was meant to reorder the nature of politics in the region. This has been accomplished in a fundamental way. The idea of dividing an enemy force into its constituent parts and then dealing with it piecemeal is at least as old as Caesar's actions in Gaul. It applies no less to U.S. strategy in the Middle East. Every faction there has been made to reconsider its relationship with every other. Rather than there being a monolithic clash of civilizations, thus far the U.S. is dealing with the area in pieces--in whatever way it sees fit to do so--whether making it tacitly clear to Syria that what happened in Iraq could more easily happen to it, or threatening Iran on behalf of the region and world, or seeking cooperation with the Saudis in hunting down al Qaeda.

Far from being a bit of belated triumphalism about the invasion, all of this has immediate and direct consequences. While the success of Iraq's democracy hangs in the balance from an operational perspective, the strategic advantages created by the invasion of Iraq are working very favorably for the U.S. in the current Israeli-Lebanon crisis in very tangible ways. . . .
Posted by:Mike

#1  (Saddam)blames Tehran primarily for the current flare-up, not some Zionist-U.S. conspiracy in the standard rhetoric of the region. Remarkable.

Maybe not remarkable, but interesting.

Maybe he can speak his mind now, without worrying about the political ramifications?
Posted by: Bobby   2006-07-26 06:42  

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