Why Resistance Was a Good Thing
The defining feature of this war has been resistance – resistance to its waging from Democrats, liberals and the UN, resistance to victory from the Iraqi regime and jihadists from other Arab countries, and resistance to accurate information from Al-Jazeera, the BBC and the Iraqi information minister.
All this resistance was a good thing because the resisters have been thoroughly discredited.
Democratic angst over the war has marked them as the anti-war party, even though about half the Democrats in congress voted for the Iraq resolution. This gulf war is unlike the first one because American security is directly at stake. Voters will find it hard to believe that Democratic presidential candidates pass the threshold on national security, thus recreating the cold war’s built-in advantage for Republicans. As for liberal Hollywood, they’re in equally deep trouble, having offended any number of people who buy movie tickets. Ditto the liberal print media, which proclaimed “Quagmire” and will be tarred by that disastrous judgement.
The UN’s influence is now reduced; France, Russia and Germany are now facing a world in which their worst nightmares have come true – France is irrelevant, Russia is impotent (Russian arms and advice didn’t help Saddam) and Germany is facing a defenseless future in which US troops in Germany might relocate to friendlier countries like Poland. In addition, all three countries may have to lose tens of billions of dollars in Iraq to unpaid debts and lose billions more in reconstruction contracts.
The Arabs are in shock at the images of American GIs enjoying the comforts of Saddam’s palaces. Their jihadists died by the thousand in “martyrdom” attacks in Iraq, all to no avail. Saddam statues are rapidly becoming rare collectibles and the Arab view of the world is reeling from the cognitive dissonance of Iraqis welcoming the “invaders.” Al-Jazeera and the BBC are now exposed as the hollow anti-American frauds they are. The Iraqi information minister is a worldwide joke, thanks to his resisting reality itself. That shot of the minister denying the existence of the tanks a few hundred meters behind him will prove invaluable to us in the days ahead. For example, Saddam’s chief scientist, Amir al-Saadi, has surrendered and claims that Iraq never had WMD. People all over the world are not going to believe him, thanks to the information minister’s pathetic performance, which convinced everyone that everything the regime says is a lie.
Iraqi military resistance did exist and used the dirtiest possible tactics. It still failed miserably, which means that Iran and North Korea have much to worry about and will probably come to the negotiating table with a weakened hand.
In a way, I’m glad this war was so unpopular with so many. People will wonder why the naysayers were so stunningly wrong and begin to rethink long-held assumptions.
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