Najaf, Islam and Bush

The Washington Post reports on Marines getting ready to assault Najaf to take out the forces of Muqtada Al Sadr (sp?).

What I find most interesting are the quotes from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme something or other in Iran. Not sure what his exact title is. The Post says "Supreme Leader".

Here are some quotes from the Supreme Holy Blowhard of Iran

"The United States is slaughtering the people of one of the holiest Islamic
cities and the Muslim world and the Iraqi nation will not stand by,"

"These crimes are a dark blemish which will never be wiped from the face of America. They commit these crimes and shamelessly talk of democracy,"

"[American combat operations in Najaf constitute] one of the darkest crimes of humanity."

Gotta love Muslim bluster

So subjugation of women is OK. Torture is OK. Stifling free thought... or anything free for that matter... is OK. Blowing up women and children with terrorist human bombs is OK, but fighting back against these things is "one of the darkest crimes of humanity?"

Trying to introduce democracy and liberty into the Muslim world is a "dark blemish which will never be wiped from the face of America"?

Fighting back against insurgents constitutes slaughtering the population of Najaf, while intimidating the civilian population of Iraq with terrorist car bombings, killing women and children daily, is some how holy...

Gotta love Muslim bluster.

I think the big mistake on our part is in thinking that Muslim society is going to accept democracy and liberties. We're trying to democratize a medieval, almost feudal, society with a degree of religious fanaticism that we don't really see in the West anymore. Only the absolute worst nutcases in America even approach the degree of religious fervor that we're seeing as the norm in the Arab world. The only secular governments that survive are totalitarian states, and there is absolutely no wall between the religious and the secular. In fact, there appears to be no concept of secular society at all.

Oddly enough, the situation we're in right now in Iraq is exactly the sort of thing Bush railed against in his 2000 campaign. This sort of quandry is why Bush campaigned AGAINST nation building. Three possibilities.

1. He lied in 2000.

2. He was wrong in 2000, and Nation Building is actually an important element of foreign policy and the previous administration was right in it's goals, if not execution, in attempting such things.

3. Bush changed his mind based on 9/11. Oh God, please spare me a politician who might actually be open to learning from events, and letting his view evolve based on ever changing world situations. (Readers in Europe take note... there's sarcasm here.)