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| Belmont Club Nails It |
| 2007-04-11 |
| I don't know if y'all frequent Belmont Club regularly, but he makes an observation today that absolutely nails it. "When pundits say that Iraq is in the throes of a civil war, perhaps the correct conflict to which it should be compared is the Spanish Civil War. Although many of the elements of that conflict were driven by peculiarly Iberian causes, it was far more importantly the focal point of a world struggle between democracy and fascism. It is impossible to understand the events in Iraq today as simply the result of the mindless bungling of George Bush. It is above all the locus of the major clash between two contending trends in the 21st century. And like the Spanish Civil War, Iraq may be the most unavoidable event of the age." The comments are also worthy. A) And like the Spanish Civil War.... 1) the left in the West has romanticized the conflict and missed the true nature of the insurgency (e.g. Moore's "founding fathers", etc.). Read Orwell. We all know Hitler backed Franco, but Uncle Joe (Stalin) and his ruthles cadres used and killed the naive romantics who flocked from the West. 2) Iraq is likely the prelude to a much larger conflict between fascism and freedom. B) But the issues at stake are larger than that. I see it as the 7th century life vs. 21st century life, man against woman, living vs. glorification of death, barbarianism vs civilization. C) "...it was far more importantly the focal point of a world struggle between democracy and fascism." But how many knew that at the time? It took the event of W.W. II and the benefit of hindsight to put the Spanish Civil War in its proper perspective. As already noted, neither side was ideologically pure, a point that Orwell discovered during the course of his enlistment/disillusionment with the Loyalists and detailed in his book, Homage to Catalonia. The stakes for the future seem so much easier to discern at a so much earlier stage in this struggle that it amazes me people aren't able to see it. Of course those who don't now see it eventually will, when it's too late. And then our defeat will be anyone's fault but their own. |
| Posted by:Glenmore |