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| Mythical Moderate Muslims Mobilizing |
| 2005-08-26 |
| Reprinted in full, page forward to page 18, at the link. âInsanity,â goes a popular old saw attributed to both Albert Einstein and Ben Franklin, I think Ben got there first âis doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.â As a corollary, it seems to me that saying the same thing over and over again regardless of the results should be a similar kind of crazy. oiloiloil For the last few years, weâve been told (by John Kerry, Howard Dean, various and sundry editorialists, et al) that George W. Bush has, through the âwrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time,â âcreated more terroristsâ and âisolated Americaâ by inflaming passions in the Middle East. Cindy Sheehan has amplified this perspective, calling President Bush, among other things, an âevil maniacâ and the worldâs âbiggest terrorist.â And, in the process, sheâs become a hero to those who see pathos in her protest and a sham to those who see bathos in her stunts. But as Sheehanâs rhetoric is exceeding even the heat of the Crawford sun and as Democrats openly ponder whether sheâs the piedpiper to lead them out of the wilderness, facts on the ground are changing. If the war has created more terrorists and made the world hate us more, why exactly has Muslim and Arab opinion of the United States improved? Say what? According the Pew Global Attitudes Survey, views toward the U.S. have been improving. Well, why isn't that on the front page of the New York Times. Oh, wait...never mind. Weâre not exactly back to the days when Kuwaiti babies were being named George Bush, but the trends are in our favor. The share of people with a favorable view of America went up in Indonesia some 23 points, Lebanon 15 points and Jordan 16 points. Trends in France, Germany, Russia and India have been moving our way, too. Somebody better find that report! But the news gets even better. Support for terrorism and Osama Bin Laden has been plummeting across the Arab and Muslim world (save for in Jordan, where the large Palestinian population plays a big role) while support for democracy has improved. According to Pew, ânearly three-quarters of Moroccans and roughly half of those in Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia see Islamic extremism as a threat to their countries.â Mythical Moderate Muslims Mobilizing? Now THERE'S a title! The share of those supporting suicide bombings and the targeting of civilians has fallen by more than a third in Lebanon, where democracy is on the move, by the way, and by 16 and 27 percent in Pakistan and Morocco, respectively. Similar declines for Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaida and the like have been recorded. Now, thereâs no doubt these numbers are imperfect and hardly speak to a single cause. In Indonesia, our generous tsunami relief helped a great deal. In Lebanon, terrorism isnât just something that happens to Israelis and Americans, itâs something that could snuff out the rebirth of democracy there (and a reminder of the civil war few wish to return to). And across the Arab world, images of Iraqi âinsurgentsâ slaughtering innocent men, women and children while Americans are trying to build schools and hospitals have shifted opinions. But here in the U.S. opinions remain fixed. Opponents of the war are convinced that every day we are in Iraq we are making things worse for America and the world. One could certainly argue that weâre making things worse for America, in that the war has not gone as well as many of its supporters hoped or expected. But even if you proved that the war was a mistake in every way, shape and form, arguing that it never should have happened is not an argument for abandoning the project. If you stab a man in the chest, you donât cure him by simply yanking the knife out. In other words, the old talking points on both sides do not matter anymore. There is an important lesson for President Bush in all this. His talking point, as evidenced in his recent speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, remains âstay the course.â That has been his talking point for a very long time. I like consistency, as opposed to poll-watching. And, in fairness, if your policy is to stay the course, then saying âstay the courseâ has a certain irrefutable logic to it. But on any long journey, the course may stay the same but the terrain changes. Much has changed in Iraq. The Iraqi army is progressing even as bombers target recruiting stations; the marshlands have been restored; any ecologists out there to applaud that? and thereâs an enormous car-buying boom in Iraq, which is surely a sign of confidence. Morale â to the consternation of our domestic media â is still very high among the regular troops (less so among National Guardsmen). And, letâs not forget, the messy process of constitution-writing is unfolding before our very eyes. For reasons so imponderable a cottage industry of West Wing Kremlinologists has sprung up, President Bush seems incapable or unwilling to make the case in light of the new realities. One can stay the course, and cross mountains and valleys. Letâs hear less about the destination and more about crossing the mountains and valleys. Examiner columnist Jonah Goldberg is editor at large at the National Review Online and a syndicated columnist. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #5 Perhaps some would've been more heartened with a different title: "Pew Survey Finds Americans More Popular". I elected to frame it as moderates were becoming more vocal. Good night. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-08-26 22:06 |
| #4 Strength through invisibility... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-08-26 15:47 |
| #3 That's why they're moderate. |
| Posted by: Whaling Phomoting2583 2005-08-26 15:46 |
| #2 Mythical Moderate Muslims Mobilizing is not the title of the article. The moderates are not mobilizing. They are as comparatively powerless as ever. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-08-26 13:41 |
| #1 "...and thereâs an enormous car-buying boom in Iraq." |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2005-08-26 11:01 |