Will War With Iraq Increase Militant Islam’s Appeal?

One major argument against attacking Iraq is the argument that attacking will provoke an Islamist backlash. The problem with this argument is that it was made about Afghanistan. We can see that our attack (including our continuing the war through Ramadan when that “outrage” would supposedly inspire suicide bombers all over again) and victory did not spark massive demonstrations or revolts in the rest of the Moslem world.

In addition to the failure of bad things to happen, the collapse of the Islamist rebels in Uzbekistan shows us that victory over hostile regimes can have absolutely great positive results applied to our war against terrorism. It is nice to see such a report. Opponents of war seem to argue that we are hated by the Islamists now so our previous policy of not fighting them must have encouraged them; and that we will be hated if we attack. This creates an inescapable logic trap for complete deer-in-the-headlights inaction out of fear that something might go wrong if we so much as breathe.

Victory can have great results. Already, as I figured, the Arab states in the region are preparing to back us now that they know we are serious. The risk of being left to face Saddam’s wrath was too great before.

We are going to Baghdad.