Joseph Loconte is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a commentator on religion for National Public Radio.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaking at last week’s international conference in Baghdad, reminded many who needed reminding exactly what is at stake in the war in Iraq. Too bad hardly anyone here or in the democratic West heard the message.
The great enemy, Mr. Maliki warned, is the ideology of terrorism that threatens not only Iraq but every decent and peace-loving nation on the planet:
“The terrorism that today is trying to kill Iraqis in Baghdad, Hilla, Mosul and Anbar,” he said, “is the same as the terror that intimidated the population of Saudi Arabia, targeted the people of Egypt, attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and hit underground trains in Madrid and London.”
In other words, whatever one thinks of the decision to topple Saddam Hussein, Iraq has become another front in the war on radical Islam. This faith-based ideology assumes various shapes—Sunni suicide bombers, al Qaeda operatives—yet all pursue the same overriding objective: to turn Iraq into a haven for international terrorism, guided by a militant and murderous vision of Islam.
This is, of course, exactly the argument made by US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair—which probably explains why media outlets such as the BBC played down Mr. Maliki’s blunt assessment.
“This is an international epidemic,” he said, “the price of which is being paid by the people of Iraq, and our country is on the front line of confrontation.” Now there’s a troubling phrase—“international epidemic”—troubling, that is, to progressive ears that find it too crude, too Manichean, too reminiscent of the “axis of evil” talk of America’s cowboy president.
Mr. Maliki was hardly coy about the insidious machinations of Iran and Syria, both conference participants, to foment mayhem in his country. “Confronting terrorism means halting any form of financial support and media or religious incitement,” he said, “as well as logistical support and the provision of arms and men that will become explosive tools killing our children, women and elders, and bombing our mosques and churches.”
In other words, some of Iraq’s “neighbors” have innocent blood on their hands. Mr. Maliki, like President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, insists on connecting the dots: The flow of military support and suicide bombers across the borders of Iran and Syria results directly in the deaths of ordinary Iraqis—children playing in football fields, women shopping in markets, students attending university, pilgrims journeying to mosques. “Iraq does not accept that its territories and cities become a field where regional and international disputes are settled.”
It was all but impossible to find more than a few lines from Mr. Maliki’s speech anywhere on the BBC media expanse. It was relatively easy, however, to hear commentary about America’s much-needed “reversal” in meeting with Iranian and Syrian officials, or the Bush Administration’s “missing link” of diplomacy in the Middle East, or this latest effort “to break the ice” between Washington, Tehran, and Damascus—the risible language of moral equivalency.
Mr. Maliki rejects the moral cynicism that drives this kind of talk. “What has obstructed the economic and political building process in Iraq and has threatened civil peace,” he insisted, “is the terrorism.” It was time, he said, to stop giving "religious cover" to the terrorist atrocities that are tearing his society apart. That's a bold charge for a Muslim leader in a region drenched in pious rationalizations for terror. It's also a repudiation of the feckless impulse to blame the United States or Israel for all the region's woes (as Jordan's King Abdullah did last week).
The Iraqi prime minister can be faulted for his handling of security issues and failure to politically unite the country’s religious factions. Yet he seems to understand the nature and difficulty of his task, a difficulty that is hard to overstate and greatly complicated by the daily acts of barbarism. For a few moments last week—moments that surely offended the sensibilities of political and media sophisticates—Mr. Maliki reminded the world that America is not the problem in Iraq or in the Middle East. Terrorism is the problem. Radical Islam is the problem.
This is the reason that Iraq is fighting for its life. This is what Mr. Maliki indelicately, yet accurately calls an international epidemic—a disease of the soul that brings misery and death to everything it touches.
The essay is adapted from an article in the Weekly Standard, March 15, 2007.
What absolute rubbish. The reason there is terror in Iraq is quite simple, we that's the US and Britain created it by our ill advised, ill conceived, and given the evidence to date, probably illegal invasion of Iraq. Saddam Hussein hated Al Qaeda, he ran a secular state. The three current warring parties in Iraq would have cut each other's throats long ago if it weren't for Saddam and his iron hand. Stop trying to justify a foolish and insupportable war by bringing up all this specious nonsense. The so called 'War on Terror' has done more to give Al Qaeda recruits than just about any other act, other than perhaps our continuing blind support for Israel.
If this standard of reporting is what your internet TV channel is all about then I'm not very impressed
Posted by: Tim Proctor | March 16, 2007 at 07:08 PM
Dan, are you seeing this? Are you sure you still want people like Tim Proctor as your allies?
Posted by: JF | March 16, 2007 at 07:54 PM
People like Tim don't contribute anything constructive. Imagine: focusing on the most inhumane murderers of innocents on this planet to be destroyed in the hope of peace, and he hates it. His answer is no answer. He does not care. Thousands of miles away in a land of freedom secured from tyranny with the blood of our veterans, and he raises his enlightened fist.
Posted by: Steevo | March 17, 2007 at 08:59 AM
We could take al-Maliki more seriously if he addressed himself and his government in word or deed to the equal problem of Shia and /or Iranian sponsored terrorism. Until he does this the civil war in Iraq will go on.
Posted by: malcolm | March 17, 2007 at 07:11 PM
A big problem with Shia has been the problem with Muqtada al Sadr. The "surge" has been in effect for about 4 weeks now and still in its infancy. Al-Maliki made it clear before it began there would be no more negotiations and Sadr knew it. He's been in Iran ever since; there are no signs of his return in spite of what a few of his followers have told a very willing media.
This from Bill Rogio's "The Fourth Rail," one of the most informative sites on what's taking place in Iraq:
"The U.S. has been working on discrediting Sadr and undercutting his power base in the Mahdi Army out from under him for almost a year. The U.S. and Iraqi security forces fought pitched battles against Sadr's forces in Amara, Diwaniya and elsewhere in southern Iraq. There have been numerous raids and arrests of Mahdi Army leaders and political lieutenants in Baghdad and throughout the south."
"Darraji [the mayor of Sadr City] has welcomed the Americans and supported the establishment of the Joint Security Center, where U.S. and Iraqi troops and police will maintain security and run patrols."
Now there are still Shia and Kurd death squads but in this past month they have not allowed themselves to be drawn into the fray. There are no guarantees, but so far...
The object right now is to reduce the violence in Baghdad where the overwhelming casualties have taken place. That means arresting, or killing, the leadership of the Sunni terrorist organizations (there are over a dozen of them), as well as the technicians (bomb builders, bomb deployment supervisors, suicide bomber recruiters and handlers) required to carry out the attacks. These are aided by al Qaeda and other Islamic fanatics who see infidel (non-Moslem) troops in the Middle East as something worth killing and dying for.
Posted by: Steevo | March 17, 2007 at 08:36 PM