Because, like it or not, it is the central front of the Crusade Against Jihadism.

Christopher Hitchens goes to great length to explain why al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia is important, and why defeating/discrediting these enemies of all mankind is so important. Crushing arguments that AQM is unimportant, Hitchens concludes:

If I am right about this, an enormous prize is within our reach. We can not only deny the clones of Bin Ladenism a military victory in Iraq, we can also discredit them in the process and in the eyes (and with the help) of a Muslim people who have seen them up close. We can do this, moreover, in a keystone state of the Arab world that guards a chokepoint—the Gulf—in the global economy. As with the case of Afghanistan—where several provinces are currently on a knife-edge between an elected government that at least tries for schools and vaccinations, and the forces of uttermost darkness that seek to negate such things—the struggle will take all our nerve and all our intelligence. But who can argue that it is not the same battle in both cases, and who dares to say that it is not worth fighting?

Indeed -- only those without the vision to understand that the forces of jihad are one common enemy.

Posted by: Greg at 01:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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