Michael Ledeen writes in the NYSun on how the war is going wrong:
[T]hose who expect to see dramatically greater tranquility in Iraq and Afghanistan in the near future will surely be proven wrong….
Afghanistan and Iraq were battles in the war, not ends in themselves, and we cannot consolidate our victories in those places, let alone proclaim a broader victory, without winning the war in the region….
The keystone of the terror network–the fanatical Shiite regime in Iran that has been home to most top Al Qaeda leaders since their flight from Afghanistan two years ago–remains in place, along with its Sunni bosom buddy, the Assad regime in Syria. Both are allied with powerful elements of the Saudi royal family. Because they all know that they cannot survive the success of democratic revolutions in Iraq and Afghanistan, they are funding, training and arming the terrorists in those two countries, just as they have long provided crucial support for Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Ansar al Islam, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the other components of the terrorist universe. Those who believe that the anti-American “insurgency” relies solely, or even primarily, on the shattered remnants of Saddam’s Baathist regime are living in a fool’s paradise….
We can only win, as President Bush has said ever since September 12, by changing the regimes that support them, and we must not await another September 11 to do it. But the president is not calling for regime change in Damascus or Tehran, and continues to speak as if he believed Saudi Arabia is an ally.
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