Arming the "enemy"

Here is an excellent article by Jacob Hornberger for all of the pro-war neocons out there:

Arming “the Enemy” in the Middle East
by Jacob Hornberger

The number of pro-empire, pro-war advocates who are relying on the “Muslims are coming to get us” rationale to justify the continued occupation of Iraq seems to be dwindling, but I still receive emails from some of them telling me that U.S. forces must continue occupying Iraq to protect us from the Muslim threat to conquer the world.

Yet, notice something interesting: None of the proponents of this rationale is openly protesting the recent decision by President Bush to deliver $20 billion in weaponry to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other Middle Eastern countries that are headed by Muslim regimes.

Yes, I said Muslim regimes and I also said that the U.S. government is delivering massive amounts of weapons to such Muslim regimes. Aren’t these the people that the pro-occupation proponents are saying are waging a war against Christianity and the West? If so, then why are the pro-occupation proponents remaining silent in the face of the president’s decision to arm “the enemy”?

If the “Muslims are coming to get us” crowd really believed their own rhetoric, do you think for a moment they would be sitting on their haunches and just letting the president deliver billions of dollars of U.S. weapons to enemies who were coming to get us? Not on your life! They would be in the streets of Washington, D.C., holding protests and demonstrations. They would be writing letters to the president and the Congress. They would be telling President Bush that we are at war and that it is wrong to be delivering weapons to the enemy. Why, they might even be calling for impeachment. Isn’t it treason to aid the enemy during time of war?
Moreover, think about Iraq itself. The pro-occupation proponents say that U.S. forces must stay there to continue killing the proponents of Islam, who are supposedly committed to “following us home” with an invasion, conquest, and occupation of the U.S. (Never mind that there are no ships, planes, and supplies to accomplish such a feat.)

Yet, notice something important in Iraq: U.S. forces are not warring against all Muslims, only against those who are forming the insurgency in resistance to U.S. rule. The U.S. government continues to support and deliver weapons to Iraqis who are part of the U.S.-installed Iraqi regime — and even helping to train them to use such weapons.

But wait a minute! Aren’t the Iraqis that the U.S. government is arming and training Muslims too? In fact, haven’t many Iraqi officials even aligned themselves with the extremist Muslim regime in Iran? Why aren’t the “Muslims coming to get us” crowd protesting and demonstrating against that? Why aren’t they telling the president to attack and kill them too? Why not bomb everyone in Iraq, or at least all the Muslims, rather than simply those who are resisting the occupation? Because deep down, the pro-occupation proponents know their rationale for supporting the president’s occupation is a crock — just like the WMD, democracy-spreading, and liberation rationales were a crock too.

With the continuing reality of death and destruction coming out of Iraq on a weekly basis for at least the next two years, my hunch is that the “Muslims are coming to get us” rationale will ultimately go the way of the WMD, democracy-spreading, and freedom rationales that were initially used to justify the U.S. government’s imperial intervention in Iraq.

Mr. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

I couldn't said it better myself!