Civil War or Global War on Terror

The Washington Post reports Key Sunni militant groups are severing their association with al-Qaeda in Iraq, blaming the Iraq war on al-Qaeda, even as "Key Democrats" insists that we're simply fighting a civil war in Iraq that's unrelated to al-Qaeda or the Global War on Terror.

"Khalid Awad, a commander of the Jamiat Brigades, another insurgent group in Anbar, said: "We must confess that if it was not for al-Qaeda, neither Iraq nor Afghanistan would have been occupied. For al-Qaeda has awakened the American ogre against the Islamic nation after the September 11th events, and it is still causing disasters." "

Nancy Pelosi said she feels "sad" President Bush blamed insurgent violence on al Qaeda - CNN, November 28 2006

Perhaps what is really sad is Nancy Pelosi's understanding of al Qaeda in Iraq, illustrated by her ignorance of the following :

Al-Qaeda controls western Iraq: US intelligence report - Washington Post and AFP, November 28 2006
Oman accuses US of handing Iraq to Al-Qaeda - Middle East Online, November 21 2006
Al Qaeda Claims to Have 12,000 Fighters in Iraq - Fox News, November 10 2006

Evidently, Nancy Pelosi and al-Queda share another sad understanding:

Iraq al-Qaeda welcomes defeat of Republicans in the US mid-term polls - BBC, November 10 2006
Al Qaeda gloats over U.S. election - Washington Times, November 6 2006

War Declaration Coincidence

Is it a coincidence that days after the Democrat legislative takeover, major terrorist organizations declare war on the US for the first time? Or are they acting more like the Soviets in their Kuril island grabbing declaration of war on Japan days after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Nov. 8, 2006 - Hamas has now called for Moslems around the world to attack America according to Strategypage posted on Free Republic.

Nov. 13, 2006 - Four Palestinian Authority terrorist groups, including that of PA President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah organization, called on Muslims worldwide to attack America "with no mercy." as reported by Arutz Sheva.

Civil War or War on Terror in Iraq

CBS News reports that Al Qaeda' Abu Hamza al-Muhajir claims we’re fighting 12,000 Al Qaeda troops in Iraq. Jack Kingston reports that Democrat House leader Nancy Pelosi claim Iraq is not even part of the war on Islamic terrorism, more a civil war. Only one of these statements can be true.

The Journal of Winston Smith: The Non-Collapse Of Civilization

The Journal of Winston Smith posts an interesting begining to a series on "The Non-Collapse Of Civilization" over the last half century in face of pessimistic preditions from Objectivists: "

“In short, it is not just that civilization did not collapse. It is the vision of civilization as being on the verge of collapse that has collapsed—or at least, it ought to have collapsed.

“The problem for Objectivists, unfortunately, is that our intellectuals, who ought to be in the best position to observe and explain this phenomenon, have generally not done a good job of recognizing the non-collapse of civilization. For the most part, they are still too busy worrying over the imminent collapse of civilization to notice, study, or explain the actual trends in the other direction.

“For as long as I can remember, the typical final paragraph of any review of the state of the world by an Objectivist writer or speaker has gone something like this—which was aptly paraphrased in a recent note from a reader who had noticed the same pattern: "Western civilization as it exists today is doomed to destruction; I only hope I don't live to see its fall. Only then can a new future be built upon the philosophy of Objectivism." Over the years, the pattern has become so reinforced that I see it everywhere, in posts on Objectivist discussion groups, and in letters like the one I received recently from another reader, who lamented thatTwenty-first century America is still riding on the historical momentum of the Enlightenment, which rested on a strong (though flawed)…foundation. What is the health of that foundation today?...”

I question why Objectivists’ frequent predictions of civilization’s demise under other ideologies should be any different than leftists' predictions of America’s collapse under Republicans. Every ideologue measures social success by how aligned it is with their own ideology. When their view doesn’t dominate society, of course the ideologue is pessimistic. It’s not rocket science.

Civilization flourishes because the productive lessons of mixed bag ideologies like Christianity or post-modernism generally dominate their destructive aspects. Universally, people pick what makes sense out of their ideology and largely do what they feel anyway. And despite the flaws of both Christianity and modernism, they’ve proven capable of evolving to generally promote good behavior and weave together productive societies. Objectivism plays a part in their evolution in America now, but as members of other social systems, we just take what we most want and move on.

Despite ups and downs within societies, I’m unconvinced that civilization has rarely if ever been headed toward collapse. That kind of frustrated myopic venting from obsessed ideologues is just background noise to productive discussion.