The United States of Islam

Apparently nobody ever told Dubya to be careful what he wished for:

''If neighboring Islamic countries, including Iran, become the target of attacks, we will support them,'' al-Sadr was quoted as saying. ''The Mahdi Army is beyond the Iraqi army. It was established to defend Islam.''

"Freedom and liberty" is a tricky concept, especially for an autocrat who spouts its virtue solely to obscure his thumb as he struggles mightily to plant it on the masses. Nevermind the fact whenever George Bush says "We're spreading freedom!" it sounds like he's spreading manure, particularly when "freedom" and "liberty" are being systematically undermined here, I've held before the notion that a long-term salution may be just what Dubya has implemented (although not in the way he intended), i.e., blow up the region and let it reform as a genuine democracy, that is according to the wishes of its people and not those of the western corporate/military industrial complex, something the Arab world has never had before... and for that matter, us too!

Of course, that'd likely mean a radical Islamic state; and for the first 25-50 years after finally establishing self-determination, hostitlity toward the Great Satan would be little dissipated, and, as such, would likely involve a concurrent period of domestic oil prices bordering on the obscene -- unacceptable to our dear leader for life, even if the American driver will long have evolved unto alternative-energy locomotion.

It could be as much as a half-century after American troops are withdrawn from the region before the masses could be in position to overthrow their most recent oppressive rulers, the clerics, and as Iran was about to do before Dubya became King. Maybe then we could all have a drink and sing songs together.

Unless, of course, the reigning superpower of that day -- China!-- manipulates the Arab leadership, much in the same punitive manner as America had dispensed. A delicious irony, to be sure, but it would also consign the world to riding the energy-addictive dreary-go-round until the year 2525... If man is still alive...

But as it stands today, Iran is well on the road to obtaining the bomb, a development I don't find so alarming inasmuch as it would only protect them from an American or Israeli attack much in the way North Korea is now protected. And contrary to today's anti-Iranian fear-mongering (a now overly familiar soundtrack), I would contend that a nuclear-protected Islamic state would be far less inclined to lash out at its enemies due to having considerably more leverage, and would consequently desire to conduct actual business with, say, an oil-addicted clientele. To quote the Church Lady: Whooooo could it beeeee?

And now an Iranian pact with Muqtada Al-Sadr, who clearly would represent an unfettered majority population in Iraq, while adding Syria to the equation, would appear to shoot the Neocons' hegemonic view for the region to shit, the healthiest of developments, I would argue.

It'll take a long time to bear fruit, I grant you, and likely not in our lifetimes. But how long a time will it require before a rapproachment can be reached if American troops stay in the region for decades?