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By Ze'ev Schiff

September 23, 2005

Original Article (English)

Sheikh Walks Through his Shi'ite Mosque in Baghdad, Destroyed on September 9; Boy Holds a Page of the Koran.

Anyone who rushed to defend or condemn the Palestinians for burning the synagogues that remained in Gush Katif had better see what is happening to the mosques in the war taking place in Iraq.

[Editor’s Note: Gush Katif was an Israeli settlement on land recently relinquished to Palestinian control after almost 40 years in Israeli hands].

The Muslims, and mainly the Sunni rebels, are blowing up mosques and killing hundreds of worshipers, who are among their enemies. Why should synagogues be any different for them? Neither are considered “holy places” by Muslims. That is what [Israeli] Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet security services told the government in their preliminary assessment.

The mass murder in Iraq is reminiscent of what extremist Muslim rebels did to tens of thousands of citizens a few years ago in Algeria. The goal in Iraq is to prove that the government, established after free elections and supported by the U.S. Army, is incapable of providing security to the country's citizens even.

That is the singular achievement in the rebels' war. A comparative study carried out by the prestigious Rand Corporation examined nine instances in which an effort was made to rehabilitate a country after war. The investigation included an examination of various sectors: restoring the economy, health services, education, police, courts of law, border control and internal security. Seven cases (Bosnia, Haiti, East Timor, Somalia, El Salvador, Panama and Kosovo) were successful. Thus far, two cases have been failures:  Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the Pentagon, on the other hand, opinions are mixed. There, they also point to signs of success in Iraq. For example, the elections that took place, the general constitution that was formulated, continued enlistment in the Iraqi army, military operations that were more successful, including along the Syrian border and even the penetration of that country when engaged in hot pursuit, improved intelligence and a decline in losses for the U.S. Army.

In the Pentagon, Opinion are Divided Over What to Do in Iraq.

However, no one in the Pentagon claims that Iraq has seen a dramatic change in favor of the Americans. It’s no wonder American public opinion is tending to greater criticism of the war. And moreover, the neoconservative group in the administration, which led to the war against Saddam Hussein, has in effect disintegrated and abandoned its posts.

It’s no wonder that voices are being heard in Washington of the need for "an exit strategy" from Iraq, but President George W. Bush says that he has no intention of doing so before he achieves victory over terror in the country.

In the not-so-distant past, the United States withdrew from Vietnam, from Beirut and from Somalia. Of course there is a difference between withdrawals from Vietnam, where South Vietnam faced North Vietnam. In the Middle East, a hasty American withdrawal would be interpreted as a defeat, and would immediately affect the region’s oil states, including Saudi Arabia, as well as Iran and Israel. The candidate for the job of chancellor in Germany, Angela Merkel, said she opposed the war in Iraq, but under the present circumstance, she is also opposed to an American-British withdrawal from Iraq.

To those who say a hasty withdrawal from Iraq will not harm the United States, the reply is that chain reactions to such a withdrawal are liable to be dramatic for many countries, and in the end will affect U.S. security, as well.

What is interesting is that among the many scholars preoccupied with the war in Iraq, not a single one has discussed, in the wake of faulty handling of the war, the possible outcome of an American withdrawal.

Such a withdrawal would certainly have an immediate effect on Iran's plans in the Middle East, and on Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. Iran would definitely be the leading nuclear power. The shake-up would affect Saudi Arabia and the small oil-producing nations in the Gulf. In Israel, the relatively optimistic intelligence assessment regarding strategic threats to the country would be eroded. A failed American withdrawal in Iraq would increase the threats to the Jewish state.

VIDEO FROM THE MUSLIM WORLD: AL-QAEDA NEWS BROADCAST FOR SEPTEMBER

Al-Qaeda 'News Anchor'

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