CRADLE OF HATE; ISLAM'S MIDDLE EAST PROBLEM

Last week Ralph Peters got off message with silliness about how certain unnamed “right-wingers” were fomenting alienation of moderate Muslims by engaging in over-the-top anti-Muslim attitudes. That piece was undoubtedly meant to establish Peters’ anti-Islamophobe credentials at other unnamed folks expense. This week however Ralph Peters is back on message and he unloads with this powerful piece. A small sample:

"Given all the wealth that's poured into the region, its vast human resources and all of its opportunities for change, the mess the Middle East has made of itself is stunning. Beyond Israel, the region hasn't produced a single first-rate government, army, economy, university or industry. It hasn't even produced convincing second-raters. Culturally, the region is utterly noncompetitive. Societies stagnate as populations seethe... Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has a per capita GDP half that of Israel's (whose sole resource is people)...The repeated failures we've witnessed go far beyond a religion on its sickbed. Instead of Islam being the Middle East's problem, what if Islam's problem is the Middle East? Were Christianity and Judaism "saved" because they escaped the Middle East? Were these other two great monotheist religions able to master the power of knowledge and human potential because they were driven from their stultifying cultural and geographic origins? Did the Diaspora and the subsequent Muslim destruction of the cradle of Christianity ultimately save these two faiths? The Middle East is a straitjacket that turns religions mad. We got away."

Muslim leaders demand apology for Pope's 'medieval' remarks

Tags: Middle East, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, G-8 Summit, Hezbollah, Fox News, CNN, Media

I also highly recommend Charles Krauthammer's article in the New York Daily News: Moment of truth is near for the next big fight. Dr. Krauthammer pulls no punches: In his televised 9/11 address, President Bush said that we must not "leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons." There's only one such current candidate: Iran. The next day, he responded thus (as reported by Rich Lowry and Kate O'Beirne of National Review) to a question on Iran: "It's very important for the American people to see the President try to solve problems diplomatically before resorting to military force."

"Before" implies that the one follows the other. The signal is unmistakable. An aerial attack on Iran's nuclear facilities lies just beyond the horizon of diplomacy. With the crisis advancing and the moment of truth approaching, it is important to begin looking now with unflinching honesty at the military option.