On Violence

I just got an email from my friend in Iraq today. He spends most of his time with American-friendly Iraqis, which gives an interesting picture of the situation. He recently met a guy they call "the wolf", who comes for a wealthy family. He "transports" goods for companies in Iraq. The wolf is muslim and his father was kidnapped by terrorists last year; because of what the terrorists did, the guy has renounced his religion. They sent the family CDs of their father bound and asked for money.

When violence in Iraq switched from a purely anti-Western reaction, to one of class conflict and greed, it severely damaged the ability of terrorists to threaten the long-term stability of the world order. The more muslims are harmed by their own terrorism and senseless violence, the better chance the world has of creating a global culture against this type of activity.

However, for any norm like this to develop, Israel will have to be less beligerent and the US will have to take troops out of the Middle East, since we consolidate opposition and give an outlet, or excuse, for terrorists. To win over sensible people in the Middle East, we must keep reason on our side. Since America's continued presence in Iraq is not reasonable, we should leave.