SAM wants to know more about withdrawing from the Middle East:
I’m been reading your columns relatively recently, so I am not sure how much of this you have covered or how much you would like to pursue this in these Emails, but I’m not sure what you mean by withdrawing from the Middle East. Do you mean withdrawing of all troops from Iraq? and other bases in the region? or withdrawing monetary support for tyrannical Arab governments such as Egypt? or do you mean withdrawing support (spiritual and economic) from Israel? But I am also unsure what effect withdrawing from the Middle East (in any of the above ways) would have on the wider war on terror. For example, would withdrawing from the Middle East prevent the Islamic jihadists from killing Christians in the Philippines, Sudan, Nigeria, or Pakistan? Would it prevent jihadists from killing Hindus in Bali or India or Kashmir, or the killing of Buddhists in Thailand. You see my point. Islamic Jihad involves more than Middle East issues.
By the way, there has been an increase in terrorism since the Iraqi War, but strangely enough. there has been no further attacks in the US. This is inexplicable to me. As I say, I am unsure how far you want to pursue this here, but I do appreciate your responses thus far.
What I mean by withdrawing from the Middle East is withdrawing completely. Bases, troops and financial support for every government in the region. I appreciate the Christian concern for Israel but Israel won several wars without our help, it is an untrustworthy ally in the geopolital sense and is genuine cause for grievance with the USA on the part of its enemies. I find it very difficult to stomach the incomprehensible thinking on the part of those who insist that while Israel is a vital US ally, our alliance with Israel does not cause its enemies to target us. Besides which, if we are giving nearly the same amount of financial and military support to Egypt as we are to Israel, how does the net effect benefit Israel in the first place?
Now, withdrawing from the Middle East will not prevent jihadists from killing Hindus in Bali or Buddhists in Thailand. On the other hand, it should be obvious that occupying Iraq has not prevented this either.
As for the absence of attacks in the USA since 9/11, the combination of our open borders combined with the demonstrated inability of Israel to prevent hundreds of terrorists attacks every year suggests at least one of three possibilities. One, that radical Islam is not as interested in attacking America as the jihadists claim. Two, that the jihadists are biding their time and are in the process of preparing a spectacular attack of great magnitude. Three, 9/11 was a false flag operation and the jihadists were not responsible for it despite their later claims. Far less credible than any of these possibilities is the notion that American security is so magnificent that it is preventing dozens of attempted attacks every month.
It is true that the Islamic Jihad involves far more than the Middle East. But the administration decided from the very start that it was not interested in mobilizing the nation to support the Clash of Civilizations that many war cheerleaders mysteriously seem to believe the administration is waging, in spite all of the evidence to the contrary. Occupying Iraq will no more bring an end to the global jihad than occupying a single, not terribly important German state such as Schleswig-Holstein would have brought an end to the Third Reich.