Fouad Ajami and the Iraqi Sunnis
In "Obama's Afghan Struggle," Fouad Ajami writes in The Wall Street Journal of March 20, 2009 that:
"The [Iraqi region] Anbar turned only when the Sunni insurgents had grown convinced that the Americans were here to stay and that the alternative to accommodation with the Americans, and with the Baghdad government, is a sure and widespread Sunni defeat."
Interesting.
A political scientist who ignores political forces and focuses only on the military part of the equation. Ajami's analysis ignores three political factors:
1. The importance and success of Americans efforts for meaningful inclusion of the Sunnis in the Iraqi political process.
2. The American realization, despite efforts by the likes of Ajami to distract policy makers, that Shiite sectarian militias are just as dangerous to Iraq as the Al Qaeda terrorists.
3. The campaign to rid government ministries of Shiite fanatics who used the government's authority to persecute the Sunnis of Iraq.
If only the Shiite Ajami was not mistreated at one time and mocked in the Arab world for being of Persian descent. Maybe he would not have had a love fest in Baghdad with sectarian fanatics like al Hakim and his pro- Iranian gang. Perhaps he would have been less anti- Sunni in his analysis of the Middle East politics.
"The [Iraqi region] Anbar turned only when the Sunni insurgents had grown convinced that the Americans were here to stay and that the alternative to accommodation with the Americans, and with the Baghdad government, is a sure and widespread Sunni defeat."
Interesting.
A political scientist who ignores political forces and focuses only on the military part of the equation. Ajami's analysis ignores three political factors:
1. The importance and success of Americans efforts for meaningful inclusion of the Sunnis in the Iraqi political process.
2. The American realization, despite efforts by the likes of Ajami to distract policy makers, that Shiite sectarian militias are just as dangerous to Iraq as the Al Qaeda terrorists.
3. The campaign to rid government ministries of Shiite fanatics who used the government's authority to persecute the Sunnis of Iraq.
If only the Shiite Ajami was not mistreated at one time and mocked in the Arab world for being of Persian descent. Maybe he would not have had a love fest in Baghdad with sectarian fanatics like al Hakim and his pro- Iranian gang. Perhaps he would have been less anti- Sunni in his analysis of the Middle East politics.
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