Remember Osama's plan? Force the West into radicalizing the Arab world into an anti-western theocracy. Well, not only has al Sadr moved from a fringe player to someone on the verge of representing the Shi'a majority in Iraq, but Iraq's moderate neighbors are worried that a Sadr's success in Iraq is putting them in danger.
ANALYSIS-Arab Rulers' Worst Fears on Iraq Come True
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) - As U.S. forces battle on a new front in Iraq, Baghdad's Arab neighbors watch the escalating violence with alarm and a message that affords them only the grimmest satisfaction: "We told you so."
Arab leaders had said loudly and repeatedly that a U.S. war against Saddam Hussein would unleash chaos in multi-ethnic Iraq and the region and open a Pandora's box of radicalism.
With U.S.-led forces now battling Shi'ite Muslims in several cities, they now feel their ominous prophecy has come true.
The leaders fear that clashes between Shi'ites loyal to firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and occupation forces could lead to civil war -- and spill over their borders. More...
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4775917 Many thoughtful words have been written here arguing that Bush has forced us to "see it through" in Iraq - even if Kerry wins, it may take years to extricate ourselves from Iraq. Well,
we may not have years.Look, after 9/11 the Arab streets did
not explode when we invaded Afghanistan. I think the average Arab realized that if you knock down US skyscrapers, there will be some hell to pay. But then to use this as an excuse to invade and then permanately occupy an oil-rich Arab nation
that had nothing to do with 9/11 is another proposition all together.
The more we attack al Sadr, the more likely it is that theocracy will be the ultimate outcome in Iraq. The longer we occupy Iraq, the closer Iraq comes to theocracy. If the region explodes, there may not be enough troops in the US nor its allies to prevent bin Laden's dream from coming true.