Hitchens and the Mullah Problem
Christopher Hitchens will admit only one mistake in his advocacy of the Iraq war:
"The thing that I most underestimated is the thing that least undermines the case. And it's not something that I overlooked, either. But the extent of lumpen Islamization in Iraq, on both the Khomeinist and Wahhabi ends (call them Shiite and Sunni if you want a euphemism that insults the majority), was worse than I had guessed."
The words sort of pile on top of each other here, but part of the meaning seems to be this: there is much more evidence of radical Islam--the kind that threatens the West--in Iraq than Hitchens thought. But knowing that now, he doesn't think the case for Bush's war is weakened. In fact, the "rule of the proxies of the Iranian mullahs and the Saudi princes, ... these sadistic and corrupt riffraff ... would have made it even more important not to leave Iraq to the post-Saddam plans of such factions."
The more true it was that the dangerous mullahs were in charge, the more of a case there was for U.S. invasion? I would have thought the opposite--it was the hope or promise that Iraq was largely secularized or even Westernized that made it so inviting as a potential showcase for Western-style democracy.
In fairness, Hitchens also emphasizes that the U.S. had half-occupied Iraq for years through sanctions and no-fly zones. The only real options were to call all this off, and leave Saddam in his glory, or carry out regime change. Hitchens cites Pollack's book for its much-quoted advocacy of invasion, even though Pollack largely based his case on ... er ... weapons of mass destruction.
This will no doubt prove to be a learning experience for many of us. If Iraq turns out to be another mullocracy, with a formal veneer of secular, even elected government, and a somewhat hidden arbitrary rule by mullahs, like Iran, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, then we can learn more about the success and growth of such regimes.
They do seem to be the basis or source of a great deal of hatred of the West, and thus, recruiting grounds for terrorists.
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