As usual, without context and perspective...you get half the story! "...US causing terrorism..."

Here is a fun little article from Singapore. In it the "expert" is quoted as saying: "The US invasion of Iraq has increased the threat of terrorism very significantly. As the United States withdraws from Iraq, the threat will grow and will become more significant. So it will require increased international investment in Iraq to stabilise Iraq because terrorist ideologies are also influencing a number of terrorist groups and extremism groups based in Asia."
Let's start with the first part. The part that links the Asian increase in terrorism with the US efforts in Iraq. I don't doubt that there is a wannabe mujahedeen sitting in Asia somewhere who is filled with hate (put there by radical Islam) watching the events in Iraq and moving more and more toward action. Sound perfectly plausible. What you have to ask yourself is what if Iraq went perfectly. By perfect I mean that Iraq is free of radical, sectarian and al qaeda terrorism. Do you think that world wide radical Islam would view that as a victory? Do you think that they would quiet their rhetoric and go hide in the corners of the mosque? No they would be just as loud and threatening if not more so.

What we have here is half an "expert" theory, or it is also likely that we have half a story. A story typical of the modern media only concerned with the headline. One void of context and perspective. Half a theory because it neglects the realities of radical Islam. It assigns blame to the US rather than radical Islam. What came first in terrorism in Asia, radical Islam or the US invasion of Iraq? Why don't we ask the families of those killed in the 2002 Bali bombing if they think the invasion of Iraq radicalized those responsible!

On to the second part. The part that says we will need an international effort to fix Iraq. REALLY? Maybe a "Coalition of the Willing?" Because I could have sworn that the time to sign up for that job was in 2003. Don't get me wrong. The current coalition would love to have you. But you don't get to sound self-important and capable of effecting change in Iraq without being asked why you did not enlist when the original call came out! Perhaps you were scared of how the radical Islamists at home would react to your participation? Perhaps now you see the folly of bending your policy to comfort radical Islam. Radical Islam does not go away if asked nicely or ignored. The US calls it a Global War on Terrorism for a reason. That reason is that we...the US, recognized early on that when a terrorist "butterfly flaps its wings" in Egypt, it changes the "weather" in New York. The same for Iraq and Asia. Perhaps one of the problems is the tardy nature of the call for a coalition by those that originally turned down the invite.

Now, the Iraq Study Group in all of its collective wisdom is calling for a coalition as well. Nice! Good timing. Why don't you also call for Saddam and his sons to leave the country as well. That would also be good timing.

So why don't we concentrate on the problem. Radical Islam.

B.