Us vs. the Caliphate

President Bush sought Thursday to revive waning public support for the war in Iraq, accusing militants of seeking to establish a "radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia" with Iraq serving as the main front. Islamic radicals are being sheltered by "allies of convenience like Syria and Iran," Bush declared in a speech before the National Endowment for Democracy.

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Yeah.

He’s so -cute- when he says stuff like this!

Let’s see, there’s one country in the Mideast run by theocrats relatively hostile to us, Iran. And the biggest threat to that rule is … other Iranians. The U.S. is apparently quite popular with the post-revolution generation, who have seized their own future and like Sharper Image catalogs as much as the Koran. Then there’s Syria, ooh, big, well, not –really-, bad, well, just sorta, Syria. Syria loves the Islamic jihad so much that the current ruler’s dad flattened an entire city to root ‘em out.

Yes, Saladin is rising again. Saladin was a Kurd like … our closest allies in Iraq, who have lived under a relatively democratic regime for over ten years. But he pitched his tent, so to speak, in Egypt, the heart of the Arab world … which has just seen its first, very loose, attempt at an open presidential election and promises of still more due to public pressure.

Seems to me as if the Jihad has to fit a lot of Arabs and Muslims before they can even think about taking us on. So where’s this “Islamic empire” going to take place?

In the minds of the president’s more simplistic supporters, who love the idea of modern Crusaders defending the cross against the infidels. Godless communism has thrown in the towel. You can’t holler about them any more. There’s no point looking under lefty Aunt Rosa’s bed for them anymore. So what’s a godly warrior to do?

Why, find other zealots willing and able to play the game, that’s what. People who worship the –wrong- God (although a deity who offers a paradise full of willing women can’t be all bad.) People who, unlike Commies who could look just like me or you, are different. Brown usually, with funny clothes. People you certainly don’t see in Birmingham, Alabama. And people willing to fly airplanes into buildings!! Great!! So what are we waiting for? This is the modern era. We don’t need a pope to call for a crusade. We’ve got Fox News and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. So everyone, pick up your pike and your halberd and let’s get going.

The Islamic terrorists are no threat to the continued existence of the US and the Western world. They’re not even much of a threat to the continued existence of Arab and Muslim states. As David Brooks noted in a recent article, the typical jihadist strikes a profile strikingly similar to young Marxist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. They’re often the first generation of upwardly mobile families caught between feeling like they’ve moved past the old world but not quite comfortable in the new. As a result, they create a utopian ideal, a new norm, to live in.

A lot of the attraction, in my opinion, is built in the relatively vague aims of the jihad movement. There’s no twenty point plan for the brave new world. There’s just the Koran as they see it, and the promise of a happy life. In this sense it’s similar to the Nazis, who were also vague and drew people in because they promised action and a better life, not a debating society.

This isn’t a class of civilizations, or of religions. It’s growing pains. What we have called the Third World is growing up, and some of the teens are going through a standard find-myself rebellion. They’re just doing it with car bombs.

The answer is to continue to push for democratic and economic development, but allow the locals to set the pace and the agenda. One of the remarkable lessons of Iran is that when people seize control of their own destiny, they’re a lot more likely to make progressive choices than when it’s imposed on them (hence our struggle in Iraq). As one Iranian political leader said recently, “Time is on our side. After all, it took the West hundreds of years to get where it is. We’ve just had twenty.” Our best weapon against the jihadists over time is patience, and a gentle nudge from time to time.

Now will someone please tell our president? He’s just making himself look silly otherwise. Next thing you know, he'll be dressing himself up like Richard the Lionhearted. It's embarrassing.