A Tale of Two Wars



Two wars are being fought in the Middle East right now. Ostensibly the coalition forces are winning the ground and air war against the Iraqis but are losing the "image" war that in the long run may be more important. One has only to look to Israel and the continued terrorist attacks suffered by that nation to understand what I mean.



It was widely reported after 9/11 that one of prime goals of Bin Laden was to drag the United States government into attacking the Arab world and unleashing the mother of all battles (for Bin Laden this would lead to the destruction of the "infidels," i.e. "us"). The attack on Afghanistan failed to have any real repurcussions in the Arab world because it was understood to be an attack on the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks on the United States. Unfortunately the attack on Iraq is not as clear and the battle for public opinion (outside of the United States) is being lost. Now reports of Iraqis living in exile, people who fled Iraq to escape the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein are loading up in buses in Jordan to return to Iraq to fight for their country which they see as under attack from an invading force. To accomplish this conversion is no small task and may be an indication that we unwittingly have stepped into the mouse trap set by Bin Laden on 9/11.



I have little doubt that the United States will win the war and have control of the Iraqi government soon, but I also have little doubt that we have already loss the war of opinion. It seems that almost no one outside of Americans sees us as a "liberator." Take this quote from CNN.World:



Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says the U.S.-led war on Iraq would produce "one hundred new bin Ladens," driving more Muslims to anti-Western militancy.



"When it is over, if it is over, this war will have horrible consequences," Mubarak told Egyptian soldiers in the city of Suez on Monday.



"Instead of having one (Osama) bin Laden, we will have 100 bin Ladens," he said.







Disatisfied Catholics in NH Set-up Website



Calling for bishop's resignation. I think this site has been up for a day so far and has about 112 names so far.



See it at NH Catholics for Moral Leadership







Captured Kenyans Prayer Answered Quickly in Iraq



From BBC NEWS:



"I remember seeing a man with his finger on the pin of a grenade as they argued about whether they would kill us or not.



"David and I are both Christians and this morning I said 'We must pray together for a miracle.'



"So we prayed and 30 minutes later the door swung open and there were two British soldiers standing there.



"God must have given them the power to save us. It really was a miracle that they came."