Iraq - the test

I wrote in an earlier article

It might be that Iraq will become the final test of will between the US, Syria, Iran and others. For they have to stop the US here and now. If the regional terrorists lose this one democracy will prevail in the entire Middle East and end their dream of an Islamic dominated world

Nelson Ascher writing in EuroPundits expands on the idea.

What’s going on in Iraq right now is one more test of America’s resolve. It’s not the first nor will it be the last.

The several jihadi groups are, in their own way, putting in practice, almost in a didactic sequence, the lessons they have been accumulating for over a quarter of century. As in Teheran or Beirut, Southern Lebanon or Cisjordania, they are basically trying to repeat things they’ve successfully done before: car-bombs, suicide bombings, hostage taking (as Saddam did during the first Gulf War and the Hizbollah in Lebanon), mob violence, lynchings etc. In other words, up to the moment, they have not presented us with anything particularly new or surprising.

That worries me. The recent boat attack on the Iraqi oil terminal was the first "new" type of attack in awhile. I worry that Al-Qaeda is either up to something big or is happy to let Iraq distract the world while it prepares for something big.

Good article and worth a read.