Monday, August 11, 2008

Sunni Neighbors of Iraq Start Coming Around

Gateway Pundit is on the case, even if I cannot find this in any American newspapers online today:

"King Abdullah of Jordan has become the first Arab head of state to visit Iraq since the US-led invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein in 2003."

Remember, this is the same King Abdullah, a Sunni Arab, who in 2004 "warned of what he called the potential for a new Shi'ite crescent of governments and movements stretching from Lebanon to Iran."

So it's worth asking what has changed? For one, the Sunni tribes in Anbar province have decisively repudiated the Sunni extremists of Al Qaeda. For another, the Iraqi government has shown itself to be very willing to go against Iran by taking down the Shi'ite extremists of the thuggish Mahdi Army.

When even the traditional Sunni ruling elite of the Arab world starts beating a path to an elected Shi'ite Prime Minister steadily gaining power and popularity as the Surge turns things around in Iraq, you know things have changed! After all, it was this same King's father, King Hussein, who among others convinced Pres. George H.W. Bush to abandon the Iraqi Shi'ites to Saddam in 1991 at the conclusion of the first Gulf War.

The democratic empowerment of non-radical Shi'ites not only freaks out Sunnis like King Abdullah and the kleptocratic Saudi royal family, but also the ruling Shi'ite Mullahs of Iran, whose population is largely too young to remember the Shah and only know the repressive rule of the Ayatollah Khameini and company.

All to the good, in my view: the right people are being scared, and the long-oppressed are finally standing on their own, with the invaluable help of the men and women of America's military. It has been a long, bloody road, but a dual victory over both Shi'ite and Sunni extremists is finally coming into view.

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