Mr. Rubin:
There is a fourth possibility. The mass uprisings lead to a democratic government and an open media, and the Islamists, (including the schmucks who blame Israel and the USA for all the troubles in the world), are shown for the professional “grievance lobby” that they are.
It took a shipmate of mine to remark that these protests to bring down tyrants and dictators is EXACTLY what George W. Bush TOLD us would happen with the establishment of a working democracy in Iraq.
I’ve gummed it over all day, and the more I chew it, the more it tastes like the fruit of our victory in Iraq.
The mass uprisings are taking place in the most westernized of Muslim nations, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan, (and now Albania), PRECISELY BECAUSE being the most open societies, they are the ones where people have the most access to outside information and are free enough to communicate their common desires to have a say in the way their government runs…just like the Iraqis.
Buck up gang, the War in Iraq has been won… this is what victory looks like. But the struggle to spread democracy throughout the Middle East has just opened several new fronts.
Yes, this means that Islamist groups will have their say in these lands’ political discourse, and that means that we had better be engaged there also, supporting those factions that are more friendly to us and our interests.
We will lose these battles by disengaging from what is happening and writing these popular uprisings off.
And y’know, even if the uprisings and the overthrows were authored by Islamists, where is it written that WE cannot steal a revolution for our ends?
Liberty and Property is a powerful temptation and it’s own reward,(as well being a royal PITA…like being married to a beautiful woman).
