Why we fight (in Iraq)

Posted Aug. 10, 2009 at 2:22 PM

http://exurbanleague.com/2009/08/10/why-we-fight-in-iraq.aspx?ref=rss

Previous to 2003, Dubai was about as free of a country there was in the Middle East. If you knew the right people. And had enough money. And didn't mind the lack of democracy.

But like all autocracies, when things go wrong, they go very wrong indeed.

This is why having a functioning, self-sufficient Arab democracy in Iraq is so important: It's not poverty that breeds terrorism, it's a lack of political opportunity and personal freedom. The people dying for Jihad in Afghanistan and Iraq (and, indeed, the 9/11 hijackers) weren't from impoverished Palestine, they're from richer Arab countries with little or no political freedom, countries like Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Let off a little steam, and the pot won't boil over. Keep things bottled up, and it gets very, very bad.