The lead editorial in today's WSJ, "The Enemy In Plain View" defines the insurgency better than most: they're the old regime and the war is not over.
Do we need any clearer picture of the stakes, and the nature of our enemy, in Iraq than the photo of those assassinations that appeared on yesterday's front pages? The dead Iraqis were targeted precisely because they are trying to build a new, democratic Iraq. Their killers can't abide a free election, or a newly legitimate Iraqi government, because they know it will make it less likely that they can ever return to power. The car bombs targeting Shiite Muslims in Karbala and Najaf are sending the same brutal message.These events ought to put to rest the canard that what we are facing in Iraq is some kind of "nationalist" uprising opposed to U.S. occupation. The genuine Iraqi patriots are those risking their lives to rebuild their country and prepare for elections. They are being threatened, and murdered, by members and allies of the old regime who want to restore Sunni Baathist political domination. Or to put it more bluntly, we haven't yet defeated Saddam Hussein's regime.
I don't think it is just the Saddam Baathists but also the radical muslim fundamentalists who would like the opportunity to impose a Taliban style of government. Both are fighting free democracy, but for different reasons. The true nationalists without either Baathist or fundamentalist leanings are probably willing to go through with elections and work toward a slow, peaceful withdrawal of foreign troops.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at December 21, 2004 12:21 PM