caliphate

I have been discussing for more than a year now how Bush's horrible foreign policy is enabling the rise of a Fundamentalist Islamic Caliphate, uniting fundamentalist Sunnis against us world wide.

I discussed this regarding Somalia and its neighbors (which got me invited onto BBC Radio twice, though I only went on once,

I discussed this regarding Pakistan, our supposed ally which Barack Obama is right not to trust (remember, the elite forces of the Pakistani army put the Taliban in place in Afghanistan and are probably sheltering them now),

And even regarding such normally stable nations like Morocco, Bahrain, and

I keep writing about the neglected fronts in the fight against al-Qaeda and showing how fundamentalist Sunni Islam is rising worldwide while Bush mires us deeper and deeper into the war in Iraq, a war that had nothing to do with the people who attacked America on 9/11.

Somalia has been part of the war on al-Qaeda for many years now. And yet Republicans seem hell-bent on ignoring it. When Clinton had stabilized 90% of Somalia, with the (sometimes reluctant) cooperation of most of the Somali leaders, Republicans complained that his intervention (initiated by the elected George Bush) had no strategic purpose and no exit strategy. Odd that they said that about a nation that went on to become a focal point of al-Qaeda activity and which is now poised to become a regional disaster, yet they don't say the same thing about Bush's Iraq quagmire which also has no obvious strategic purpose, except to distract from the war against al-Qaeda, and has no exit strategy. Clinton recognized the situation in Somalia as one where religious fundamentalism and political chaos would prevail if we did not act to stabilize the are. Yet, Republicans blocked his efforts, forcing a withdrawal and subsequently political chaos resulted, leaving it to al-Qaeda linked, Taliban-like fundamentalists to provide a measure of stability. The jist of a BBC Radio show I participated in was just that: Somalis welcomed the US intervention, hoping it would bring stability, felt betrayed when the US left suddenly, then, after years of civil war, welcomed the fundamentalists as providing some safety and stability. In effect, Republican neglect of the region, along with neglect of Afghanistan, Pakistan and a whole slew of nations, was allowing what I call a nascent fundamentalist Sunni Caliphate to get going, creating fundamentalist, often al-Qaeda linked groups to form all over the world.

Well, yet again we are seeing how badly we are losing the war against terrorism. While Bush and McCain surge in Iraq (a nation previously with no al-Qaeda connections...until we invaded) Muslim extremists are now flexing their muscles in Morocco.

From BBC news:

A third blast has rocked the Moroccan city of Casablanca in what police believe was a third Islamist bomber blowing himself up after police raids.

Earlier a man set off a bomb belt when police raided El Fida district at dawn and another was shot dead before managing to do the same, police say.

A third escaped but then blew himself up later as police went to arrest him.

Let's see all the places where fundamentalist Islamic terrorists are surging while we surge in Iraq:

Bahrain

Pakistan (see also here).

Somalia

Afghanistan

...

In Bush's "Forever War" crusade against Islam, one of the nations he has touted as a strong ally has be Bahrain, the oil-rich nation that has long balanced Shiite and Sunni Islam in relative stability. Bush's failed foreign policy has destabilized huge swaths of the Middle East, creating conditions that I have been predicting are ripe for a rising, religious extremist caliphate, a united, fundamentalist Islamic movement that will rise from the Republican failures to dominate the Middle East for decades to come.

Muslim extremists are rising in Iraq, a nation that before our invasion was predominantly secular and modern. The Taliban and al-Qaeda is resurgent in Afghanistan and Pakistan, becoming powerful enough that Republican Senate FORMER-Majority Leader Bill Frist is talking of cooperating with the Taliban to save our asses in Afghanistan. Somalia has now been taken over by a new, Somali Taliban.

Now, our ally Bahrain is slipping into the extremist camp. This, more than anything previous, is proof that we are losing badly to extremists...as our moderate Muslims world wide.

For some time I have been writing about the fact that Bush has lost the war on terrorism and has, in fact, pretty much been enabling the rise of a new, extremist Caliphate that aims to control lands from Africa to Pakistan (and hence to have a nuclear capability). Some of my writings even came to the attention of BBC radio some time back.

Well, now even Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is admitting that the Republicans have lost the war against terrorism. From Salon.com:

Frist: Taliban Should Be in Afghan Gov't

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By JIM KRANE Associated Press Writer

October 02,2006 | QALAT, Afghanistan -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Islamic militia and its supporters into the Afghan government.

The Tennessee Republican said he learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated on the battlefield.

"You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government," Frist said during a brief visit to a U.S. and Romanian military base in the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. "And if that's accomplished, we'll be successful."