Truth Or Consequences

clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk The consequences of an American defeat in Iraq are likely to be even worse than in Indochina. As Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, said before he was fortunately killed by a US airstrike: “The shedding of Muslim blood is allowed in order to disrupt the greater evil of disrupting jihad.” Islamist revenge on all those Muslims who have tried to build a better Iraq will be terrible. Why do the horrors inflicted by Islamic extremists in Darfur seem to appal us, more than those in Iraq? Because, I suppose, in an orgy of self-deluding hypocrisy, we prefer to blame the United States. We should grow up. The horror of Darfur will pale beside the bloodbath in Iraq if we withdraw before we have done everything possible to enable Iraqi security forces to defend their country against sectarian horrors. I hope Gordon Brown and his advisers realise the impression that we are seeking to leave will guarantee defeat. In global jihad, perception is a more important weapon of war than ever