Headlines from the Middle east never seem to get any better. Rioting in Afghanistan took the lives of 12 people today who were protesting the inadvertent buring of some copies of the Koran at an American airbase. Hundreds were killed in a major onslaught by the Assad regime in Syria. A series of bombs were set off in Iraq (mostly in Baghdad) with over 50 people dead; the government blames al Qaeda for the blasts. The reality is that the Afghan riots are an attempt by the Taliban to take advantage of an unforced error by US forces. No one was trying to insult the fundamentalist forces in the country, but they did a great job of it without trying. No matter what happened to the books, it does not justify killing American soldiers or other protesters. We need to find out if these protests are being staged or if they are spontaneous. After all, spontaneous protest would make clear that the current policiy in Afghanistan has failed to win even minimal trust from the locals.
The killing in Syria is the subject of a meeting today in North Africa among the "friends of Syria", an international group trying to end the fighting and help the protesters. Assad looks like he is trying to finish off all the protesters before anything else happens. Congratulations to the international community for moving at such a glacial pace. Maybe they can wait for another 5000 dead before doing anything.
The Iraq bombings are perhaps the most troubling. If Iraq slides back into chaos, then all of the efforts by American troops for the last eight years could easily go to waste. Indeed, Iraq could become a vassal state to Iran, a development that would alter the strategic balance in the Middle east in ways very detrimental to American interests. If the USA still had troops in Iraq, we could help determine exactly what happened. Of course, since Obama pulled them all out, we are left in the dark. More congratulations to the Obamacrats.
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