First of all, even if it was, shouldn't the idea that liberating 25 million people from Saddam pisses off Moslems give us reason to get that clash of civilizations going faster?
But Moslems think less of al Qaeda now than they did four or five years ago:
Among the most striking trends in predominantly Muslim nations is the continuing decline in the number saying that suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilians are justifiable in the defense of Islam. In Lebanon, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia, the proportion of Muslims who view suicide bombing and other attacks against civilians as being often or sometimes justified has declined by half or more over the past five years. ...
The decreasing acceptance of extremism among Muslims also is reflected in declining support for Osama bin Laden. Since 2003, Muslim confidence in bin Laden to do the right thing in world affairs has fallen; in Jordan, just 20% express a lot or some confidence in bin Laden, down from 56% four years ago. Yet confidence in bin Laden in the Palestinian territories, while lower than it was in 2003, remains relatively high (57%).
I guess our fight in Iraq isn't so disastrous. Sure, jihadis say that Iraq is the reason they fight. But they don't mean it. Or rather, if not Iraq it would be another reason. They had reasons before Iraq and they'll have reasons after we win and Iraq quiets down. The jihadis find recruiting pretty darned easy, actually.
Stop the hand wringing. Just kill our enemies.
