December 25, 2006

By Cale Hahn

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY CHILLING AND CORRECT.

It won’t be long now. There is a palpable, nauseating sense of inevitability in the air.

President Bush’s well-intentioned, but foolishly naive vision of a new Middle East based on democracy is in flames. America has failed to stop Islamic mujahadeen from waging jihad in Iraq and Afghanistan . It has failed to topple the Iran and Syria regimes. It has failed to stem the Iraqi insurgency. It has failed to smother Iran ’s nuclear weapons development program.

America is hated in the region as no other nation has been hated in history, possibly including Israel. It is the “Great Satan”, Israel the “Little Satan.” Even moderate Jordan recently hosted the “Amman Gathering of Arab Civil Organizations for Fighting Hegemony”. Among other things the participants resolved to support “all forms of Arab resistance in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon and adopting all-out public resistance to confront US plots in the region.”

America knows it has become persona non grata and must exit the region, but before doing so must secure certain guarantees the Islamic nations will not reciprocate and attack its interests once the troops go home. America ’s carotid artery-Mideast oil- lies exposed, and it is with the greatest trepidation and reluctance it withdrawals.

America is fearful of payback.

Already, US oil companies are being shouldered aside in favor of Russian, Chinese and Indian interests. The East’s newly industrialized billions are athirst for oil. These nations are granted exploration contracts to develop Middle Eastern oilfields, securing production contracts, and building pipelines from the region to their respective countries.

Iran’s- rather than America’s- vision of the Middle East is taking shape. It is a vision of a confederation of Islamic states working in tandem and coordinating policy with itself as the power center. Iran ’s vision of the Middle East is a region cleansed of Jewish and American influence, a region whose resources do not benefit the West.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad borrowed a line from John Lennon’s peacenik song “Imagine” and added a distinctly Islamic twist: “Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism? You had best know this slogan and this goal are attainable and surely can be achieved.”

This is the environment which birthed the Iraq Study Group (ISG). America is dangerously low on ammunition, and before firing its last shot, has hastily assembled a delegation to sue for peace before the enemy forces surge into its weakened lines.

America ’s leadership on both sides of the aisle understands the stakes: America could lose access to Mideast oil. To lose Mideast oil is to be destroyed.

The ISG is America ’s delegation for peace talks. Whatever else it is purported to be, this is its true function. Page One, Chapter 1 of the report presents its interests plainly: “It ( Iraq ) has the world’s second-largest known oil reserves.”

The ISG is headed by former Secretary of State and Bush family friend James Baker, senior partner of Baker Botts Law Firm. Baker Botts is currently employed by Saudi Arabia to defend it against lawsuits brought by the families of 9/11 victims.

Baker’s appointment is no accident. His relationship with Saudi Arabia is to be utilized to garner Saudi support for US regional interests. The strategy is to use Saudi Arabia ’s considerable influence to securing Mideast oil to American markets after the troop pullout.

Ironically, Saudi Arabia and Iran are the foremost nations fostering global jihad. Without Saudi Arabia, global jihad would be a fraction of its current strength. Saudi Arabia constructs thousands of madrassas which churn out the most virulent form of Islam- Wahhabism. Its madrassas are global jihad’s food and fuel.

State-appointed imam’s continually spew forth the most poisonous invective calling for Israel ’s and America ’s destruction. This is the same nation which leads Islamic embargos against Israel, boycotts companies which do not shun Israel and makes it a pillar of its national government to works for Israel ’s eradication.

Saudi Arabia is Israel ’s fiercest enemy. It should be with the deepest sense of foreboding that Israel view Mr. Baker’s appointment to head such an influential commission.

As one official connected with the US Center for Security Policy said, “If the Baker regional strategy is adopted, we will prove to the entire world that it is better to be America ’s enemy than its friend. Jim Baker’s hostility towards the Jews is a matter of record and has endeared him to Israel ’s foes in the region.”

In regards to Israel, the ISG report states, “The US will not be able to achieve its goals in the Middle East unless the US deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict.” Such a statement makes one wonder how many divisions Israel has operating in Iraq and Arab countries.

It is, in point of act, Washington ’s tacit acknowledgement to the Islamic world it is prepared to use its influence to once again force Israel into further concessions and territorial withdrawals.

Only America, as Israel ’s historic friend and ally, possesses the influence over Israel to force her into additional territorial withdrawals. That Washington has been the catalyst for the majority of “peace initiatives” in the Middle East is a matter of record. The pattern has been the same for Madrid, Oslo, Hebron, Wye, Sharm el-Sheikh, Camp David, Taba, the Road Map and the Lebanon and Gaza withdrawals:

Islamic leaders, aware of US influence over Israel , tell the US the key to securing its interests in the Mideast is “resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. Washington, in turn, persuades, bribes or strong-arms Israel into accepting terms and withdrawing from territory under the guise of a “peace process”. Muslims then violate the agreements and the territory becomes safe havens from which they launch attacks against Israeli population centers. This pattern is unchanged, and is a blueprint for the ISG’s strategy of redeeming American influence in the Middle East.

The harsh reality is America has secured her Mideast interests at the expense of Jewish blood and Israeli security. Without American pressure on Israel, Muslim terrorists would never have been given and retained land among Israeli population centers. Arafat would have been assassinated, the terrorists destroyed and the land given to the PA retaken after the first few bus explosions.

American leaders know full well the results of ceding land to the Muslims. They cannot claim ignorance as a defense. They have the evidence of the Jewish evacuations of Gaza and Judea and Samaria , hundreds of terrorist bombs, thousands of missiles, thousands of Israelis killed and maimed and a myriad other examples of Islamic treachery and blood-lust.

One thing admirable about these murderers: there is no hypocrisy in them. Their words and their actions are consistent. When Hamas promises to wage jihad until the “Zionist entity” is annihilated, they’ll do it. When Ahmadinejad declares he plans on destroying Israel , he’s going to try. When he says global wars must rage before the coming of his Islamic Messiah, he’s going to start one.

Across the board, Islamic leaders declare the honor of Islam may be restored only by the destruction of Israel. So they say, so it is. It matters not that Americans refuse to accept the Islamic culture’s precepts.

The US is well aware if Islamic intentions regarding Israel, and has signaled it is prepared to go along.

Immediately following the publishing of the ISG report, several disturbing events occurred:

-James Baker proposed a US-organized conference dubbed Madrid-2, promoted as a forum to discuss Iraq but will actually focus on Islamic demands for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Judea , Jerusalem , Samaria and the Golan. Iran and Syria will be invited to the conference. Israel will not.

-Newly appointed US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates characterized Iran’s nuclear weapons program as motivated by deterrence against a nuclear armed Israel. Never mind that Ahmadinejad and Iran ’s rulers have stated their intent to “wipe Israel off the map” in the very near future.

-Without consulting the Israeli government, Washington officially disclosed Israel ’s possession of nuclear weapons.

- Newly empowered Congressional Democrats are secretly meeting with Hamas.

The sheer brazenness of the American treachery is staggering.

But desperation breeds delusion. America ’s expectation that it’s sworn enemies- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and their multitude terror proxies- will protect its interests after driving it from the region is the height of folly.

The Islamists rightfully see the ISG report as the white flag of surrender, the end to America ’s offensive operations in its “War on Terror” and a victory for global jihad. Islamic Jihad senior leader Abu Ayman said, “[With the ISG report], the Americans came to the conclusion that Islam is the new giant of the world…The end of the Americans and all non-believers is getting closer.”

After withdrawing from Iraq , Abu Abdullah, senior member of Hamas, declared the US will ultimately be destroyed: “ America must understand that with anti-American governments in Latin America and with Islam growing and reinforcing…the next step would be a total defeat on their (American) land, not a relative one like they are facing in Iraq .”

It remains to be seen which of the ISG’s recommendations will be implemented, but the fact they have been proposed at all creates new expectations. The newly empowered Congressional Democrats have embraced the report, as have America ’s media elite, Department of State, incoming Secretary of Defense Gates and key members of the Republican and Democratic Parties.

President Bush is a decent man, a man of honor and one whom would not deliberately carry out the possibility outlined above. But with so many signing on to the ISG initiative, President Bush is severely limited to stemming the tide or containing the damage already done. Pandora’s Box is opened.

To follow America ’s Mideast policy is to chart our descent from greatness to degeneracy. In 1948 America stood by a strategically insignificant no-nothing state at the expense of making enemies with many of its powerful oil-rich neighbors. We had discovered an ideological kin, and blood was thicker than oil.

In 2006, America appears on the verge of sacrificing a strategically significant ally, friend, and ideological kin to pay for its misadventures in the region and placate its bloodthirsty enemies for a season. We had found we needed oil, and no relationship may be too sacred to secure it.

Foreign policy has caught up with pop culture. America ’s enemies describe us as a nation without conviction, without honor, without integrity, of supreme arrogance. Perhaps our enemies are correct. Treating our allies as enemies, and our enemies as allies, it is little wonder America is despised throughout the world.

There are, however, many left in this nation perplexed and dismayed by the course of the US ship of state. But our voices are few, and have little representation in the halls of government.

America ’s leaders are knowingly colluding with Israel ’s enemies to bring about her destruction. They cannot claim ignorance of following the proposed policy shift. Islam’s words and its actions are consistent, and declare its intent to annihilate the Jewish nation.

Let America stand warned. Let her heed the warnings from 9/11, let her heed the warnings from Hurricane Katrina. Conspire to force the Jews from the land God has given them and that which was intended for them will come upon our own heads.

If this nation does not depart from the path it is on with regard to Israel , this nation will face the full wrath of Him who protects her. He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

Cale Hahn is an American Gentile living in Texas. He worked as a journalist in Jerusalem in the late 1990s. His articles have appeared in several Israeli, US and international media publications.

San Antonio , Texas
texaswatcher@yahoo.com