Is that victory I smell?
<p>The last two days have seen a triple whammy for the Islamofascists<br />
and their Western quislings. The Iraqi elections were a thumping<br />
success; congressional Democrats voted in a resolution supporting<br />
prosecution of the Iraq war; and the Patriot Act failed to be renewed.</p>
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<p>The huge turnout in the Iraqi elections was great news, but the<br />
underreported story is that Baathist dead-enders actually protected<br />
Iraqi polling places from al-Qaeda jihadis.  This presages the entry<br />
of Sunni Arabs into normal politics, and marks what is likely to be a<br />
fatal fracture in the Baath/jihadi alliance.  Couple this with the<br />
fact that attacks against Coalition troops have fallen to a<br />
seven-month low, and we begin to see a prospect of an end to the<br />
fighting in the near-term future.  It seems unlikely to me that the<br />
insurgency can last another year; on current trends, it could well<br />
collapse in six months.</p>
<p>On the domestic front, the Republicans forced Congressional<br />
Democrats to a stand-up vote on a second resolution supporting U.S.<br />
war aims; the result will make it politically very difficult for<br />
any of them to call for immediate troop withdrawals.  A longer-term<br />
effect will be to drive a wedge between Congressional Democrats and<br />
the pro-jihadis in the American hard left.  I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;re going<br />
to see the DLC making kissy-faces at Michael Moore any more.</p>
<p>And the Patriot Act wasn&#8217;t renewed.  I think this is good news.  It<br />
had become more effective as an anti-American propaganda weapon than<br />
it ever was as a tool for routing out terrorism.  This particular<br />
legislative defeat will neatly spill the wind from the sails of the<br />
Bush=Hitler crowd; what kind of Hitler lets the enabling legislation<br />
for his putative Gestapo be scuppered by a mere vote?</p>
<p>I think I smell victory coming.  And not just over the Baathists<br />
and jihadis, but over their Western allies as well.  The anti-American<br />
coalition is fracturing; even the most repellent elements of Old<br />
Europe&#8217;s elite are having second thoughts in face of the clear and<br />
present danger presented by an Iran that is building nuclear weapons<br />
and headed by a frothing nutcase.</p>
<p>But we&#8217;ll know the victory is final only when the West purges<br />
itself of the memetic poisons left over from the Cold War.  The most<br />
unfortunate thing about the way our geopolitical confrontation with<br />
the Soviets ended is that the nihilists and pro-Communist apologists<br />
in the West&#8217;s intelligentsia were never exposed and hounded out of<br />
public life. It took them all of about six months to become<br />
Islamofascism&#8217;s quislings after 9/11; this time, I hope, they&#8217;ll be<br />
named, shamed, and ruined.</p>
<p>UPDATE:  On reflection, I think I was far too generous with that<br />
&#8220;six months&#8221;.  It was more like six minutes.</p>
