Big Picture

Clifford May makes an intersting comparison between reconstruction in the south after the civil war and the current situation in Iraq.

"The war liberated millions. But the post-war period proved difficult. Members of the former regime went underground and continued to fight, using terrorist tactics – even against their fellow countrymen. Those who had been freed lacked essential services, including food, clean water, jobs and housing. Opposition to the “occupation” persisted. The reconstruction progressed slowly. True democracy took years to establish.


"Nevertheless, most Americans today agree that President Lincoln was right to wage the Civil War."

"...Perhaps most troubling are those who remain unable -- or unwilling -- to see the big picture, who fail to connect the ideological, strategic and tactical dots linking suicide-bombings in such apparently disparate places as Bombay, Baghdad, Jakarta, and Jerusalem.



"They claim to see no pattern -- even as al Qaeda joins Saddam Hussein in calling for “jihad” against Americans in Iraq, Hamas wages “jihad” against Jews in Israel, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad wage “jihad” against Hindus and moderate Muslims in India, the Abu Sayyaf group wages “jihad” against Christians in the Philippines, and Jemaah Islamiah wages “jihad” against Christians and Buddhists in Indonesia."

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