[Dean's World] Ali Eteraz: There is no Hope

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Posted by Ali Eteraz:
There is no Hope
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1177844780.shtml


   When the Soviet Union withdrew from from Afghanistan, do you know what
   a boatload of average Muslims thought?

   "The mujahideen defeated the world's second greatest superpower."

   I expressly recall hearing about the rise of the Taliban. Politically
   astute Pakistani guys like my dad knew about them far sooner than
   American media. He told me that the Taliban's claim to fame was
   defeating the Soviets. Once a Muslim milita is able to say they
   defeated someone; their name is made.

   When -- it is only a matter of time -- we withdraw from Iraq, the
   Sunnis of the world are going to say "the mujahideen defeated the
   world's greatest superpower." The Shi'a will say that they drove out
   the Americans, but only the Shi'a will hear that.

   My point: in the Sunni world, it will be Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda who
   will get the credit for our withdrawal.

   That is not good.

   This empowerement of OBL and Al-Qaeda is this administration's
   greatest -- and any American leader ever's most horrifying -- failure.
   Shame on Bush, Cheney, Rummy. They got tricked by a scheming liar like
   Chalabi who told them about the street festivals and confetti in their
   honor. They got lied to by AEI, which only means they lied to
   themselves. NYTimes helped by talking about "defectors" (who all lied
   as well). Unlike 1991, there wasn't an alternative government ready
   for us to prop. There was no democratic discourse. Clinton's sanctions
   of Iraq, along with Saddam's sons, which killed between 100,000 and
   500,000 made sure there was nothing but silent people when we arrived.
   Bad planning. Lying. No strategy. Nothing.

   What now? Inevitable is on its way. If not in October, we pull out in
   2008. Do you know why? Because a majority of Americans have accepted
   that we have lost.D Dean's World can be the last bastion of hopefull
   idealists. Hope without work, though, is fruitless.

   Someone needs to get to work diplomatically and convincing the Syrian
   PEOPLE, the Iranian PEOPLE, the Turkish PEOPLE, the Kuwaiti PEOPLE,
   the Saudi PEOPLE, that a partial Al-Qaeda state in Iraq, which can
   boast "defeating the greatest superpower" is the most horrifying thing
   in the world. Talking to the leaders of these nations doesn't do jack.
   Why? Because the PEOPLE always do the opposite of what a tyrant wants.
   I've lived under two dictatorships and my father six.

   We have to get to the PEOPLE and make them hate al-Qaeda.

   So stop b*tching that I'm un-American, that the left is wrong to
   withdraw, that Islam is the problem, that the anti-war people are
   cowards, etc. Each of those discussions are irrelevant.

   There's too much intellectual self-pleasuring going on here about who
   was right, who wrong, about hoping for the best.

   Stop hoping. We have to make a future for ourselves.

   I didn't make Eteraz.Org just for American Muslims to talk among
   themselves. I made it so that we Americans -- all of us -- can talk to
   Muslims all over the world. We Americans have to accept their
   humanity, and show them ours. al-Qaeda is doing a very good job in
   showing them we have none. THAT is the narrative we have to counter.
   Not find ways to further mock them as the Islamophobes want to do; not
   conclude that they aren't capable of humanity as the Islamophobes want
   to do; not let them think we have no spirituality.

   Eteraz.Org is not a Muslimm site. It is an American site. My first
   commitment is to the security and safety of this nation. That is where
   you should be as well. The surge will end. When we leave, we will not
   be hailed. We'll be called losers. Then we -- you and me -- will have
   to show our face to millions of Muslims around the world who will call
   us "losers." What will we say? Give them the bird?