John Gibson Hopes Iraqi Elections Will Make Insurgents Go Away
Reported by Marie Therese - December 8, 2004
Yesterday (12/7/04) in his "My Word" segment on the Big Story, FOX News host John Gibson - true to form - foamed at the mouth as he lashed out at the terrorists in Iraq. Here's what he had to say.
My Word: Here's to Hoping for Peace in Iraq
December 7, 2004 by John Gibson
Our friends at the Middle East Research Institute [MEMRI] have posted a translation of another hate-filled diatribe posted on an Islamist Web site.
I don't know how to take this one...
It's a long, long screaming exercise at young Arab men about the fact that some of them don't want to go off and get killed fighting the Americans.
I guess we should take hope.
This is a lecture about shirking the duty of jihad .. and the writer is almost frothing at the mouth in anger that some Arab men don't want to be jihadis.
"You who shirk jihad, how can you enjoy sitting idly while your brethren in Iraq suffer greatly under the oppression of Allah's enemies, while you are with your wives?"
So does it now appear that the American military isn't the one with a recruitment and retention problem, it's the insurgents?
Judging by this posting on the Internet, they're having some trouble replacing all the jihadists Americans killed in Fallujah, and before that the ones in Najaf, and before that the ones in Sadr City.
Maybe Gen. Richard Myers was right when he said that we appear to have the insurgents on the run, and that we should take the opportunity to chase them down while we can.
I know some people say I'm wrong, but I think this voting thing in Iraq could work.
Everybody likes to vote on their future, even if they're going to exercise their vote on a king or a despot. It's still their vote.
Combine that fact with what appears to be something of a desperate tone in the call to jihad... and maybe the new year holds some good news for war-weary Iraq and war-weary American.
Here's to hoping. (End of excerpt.)
COMMENT
The MEMRI translation of the "frothing at the mouth" diatribe can be viewed at MEMRI.org.
To my mind, the MEMRI piece has little to do with Iraq. It is the impassioned exhortation of a SAUDI ARABIAN cleric urging SAUDI ARABIAN men to rise up against SAUDI ARABIA's House of Saud. As I read it, the author uses Iraq and Palestine as examples of situations gone bad, hoping to inflame his audience into action. The imam who penned this piece clearly is making the case that any Muslim who cooperates with the "Crusaders" is a collaborator and a traitor to Islam.
Gibson stated that "[j]udging by this posting on the Internet, they're having some trouble replacing all the jihadists Americans killed in Fallujah, and before that the ones in Najaf, and before that the ones in Sadr City" Pray tell, how does he reach that conclusion from a tract about Saudi Arabia? The only way to do it is to operate on the assumption that Saudi Arabian groups are actively working within Iraq to foment revolution, which flies in the face of recent reports that show that a very small percentage of agitators in Iraq are foreigners.
Unfortunately, Bush's Iraq policy has gone from "flowers and sweets in the streets" through "things will get better after we turn over power on June 30th" to "full, fair and free elections on January 30th" to "well, I guess it's OK if 25% of the country doesn't vote, let's get this sham over with as soon as possible so we can get the hell out of Iraq before we have a mutiny among the troops."
Speaking of the troops, dissatisfaction has begun setting in. Witness today's appearance in Iraq by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Billed as a holiday "morale booster" for the troops, it wasn't long before one soldier asked why they don't have armor for their trucks. He was cheered and booed equally and Rumsfeld's answer was a masterpiece of fluff. In essence our oh-so-esteemed Secretary of Defense responded that one goes to war with the army one has, not with some perfect army conjured up in one's head!
It's the Mad Hatter's Tea Party! What's next? Painting the Roses Red?
