Alec Rawls over at Error Theory has an interesting analysis concerning al Qaeda, Iraq, and the Democrats.
I think that Alec is substantially right about the situation in that the majority of the Iraqi population has turned against the terrorists, and they are currently hostile towards Islamic extremism. It also seems to me that the creation of a truly secular democracy (Alec refers to it as a “republic in the American sense”) is possible within the next decade, instead of in 30 or 40 years as I once thought.
But I’m not ready to agree completely with Mr. Rawls about some of the details when it comes to how this came about, mainly because I think whatever success we are currently enjoying is more due to mistakes made by the jihadis than a masterful stroke of genius on the part of the Bush administration. Our main advantage is that we can adapt when conditions change, something that our enemies seem to have a very hard time accomplishing.
But enough nitpicking. The essay is certainly though provoking if nothing else, and I think it would be worth your while to give it a read.
(Hat tip to Ace.)