It would have absolutely shocked me if Prime Minister Maliki hadn't reacted to the Israel-Lebanon situation exactly as he has.  But Congressional Democrats are feigning shock that a conservative Shiite Islamist, whose rivals include an even more conservative Shiite Islamist with a powerful militia, is publicly sympathetic towards Shiite Hezbollah and not Israel.  It's hard to read this as anything more than the Democrats seizing an opportunity to make Bush look a little foolish.  Certainly Iraq's position on Hezbollah will make no practical difference to Israel; Iraq has its own problems to deal with.

The Democrats' grandstanding probably can't hurt Maliki much, either, but if it has any effect at all it will weaken him in the eyes of his more conservative rivals.  If there's even a hint that he's softening his position on Israel to curry favor with the US government he's doubly weakened—he looks like an American puppet, and he looks like an American puppet who'll go against the strong hostility towards Israel among Iraqis and their parties.  There is no fair-minded alternative to Maliki; if his government collapses his potential replacements include Moqtada al Sadr, who has contributed to public discourse on the crisis in the Levant by threatening to deploy his militia against the Israelis.

Obviously Americans are going to find support for Hezbollah distasteful, and rightfully so.  And if you're Chuck Schumer it's politically useful to be silly and ask Maliki if he's prepared to stand with the United States (and Israel) in the war on terror.  But if your primary concern is Iraq then the best policy when it comes to Iraqi politicians and Israel is to give them a pass.  Right now the US government can only dream of a golden future in which the Iraqi prime minister's statements about Israel have any bearing whatsoever on international affairs.  Schumer voted for the Iraq war; he thought it through (or should have) and realized that true democracy in Iraq would probably usher in a government hostile to Israel.  He should accept the consequences of the policy he supported, and not indulge in fantasies about the pro-Israel liberal he wishes were running the country.

By the way, there's a story in the Wall Street Journal about Milblogging.com, which is a clearinghouse for blogs written by American soldiers and Marines.  There's a fair amount of media bashing, which I don't take personally because I've always gotten along well with the units I've been with on embeds.  And they're entitled to have their say about the press—the press has its say about them.  Check it out for a sense of how troops over here view the situation.

 

What did you think of this article?

Liked
Disliked
No Opinion