Axis of Evil

According to WorldNetDaily (also in alJazeera magazine), some of our friends in Iran think they have learned a lesson or two from Katrina:

Iran's Revolutionary Guards conclude the deadly storm has exposed America's strategic vulnerabilities, according to reports today on the Ansa-e Hezbollah website.
"The mismanagement and the mishandling of the acute psychological problems brought about by Hurricane Katrina clearly showed that others can, at any given time, create a devastated war zone in any part of the U.S.," said Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, the official spokesman of the Revolutionary Guard.

The Revolutionary Guards' spokesman said the U.S.' inability to end the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan showed the "weakness of America's defense and state departments, as well as its intelligence and security apparatus."

"If the U.S. attacks Iran, each of America's states will face a crisis the size of Katrina," he said, referring to the massive hurricane which hit the southern coast of the United States. "The smallest mistake by America in this regard will result in every single state in that country turning into a disaster zone."

At this point one might point out that the 2003 earthquake in southeastern Iran killed at least 43,000 people. One might then question whether that natural disaster exposed any weaknesses in Iran's ability to manage a war.

But Jazayeri continues:

The Iranian war planners believe the U.S. can be defeated in a confrontation with Iran.

"How could the White House, which is impotent in the face of a storm and a natural disaster, enter a military conflict with the powerful Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly with the precious experience that we gained in the eight-year war with Iraq?" said Jazayeri.

Iraq gained precious experience in that eight-year war, too. I can't remember, how'd that work out for them?

All kidding aside, the first response to Katrina was a mess, and obviously our enemies took note. But the tone of Jazayeri's speech is even more revealing. Since September 11, the United States has removed two brutal regimes from power halfway around the world, helped to install the beginnings of democracies in their place, done so with historically low casualites, and has not suffered another attack on its shores.

Yet Jazayeri and other outside observers have concluded that somehow we are terribly weak and unwilling really to fight it out. I wonder, in the face of all the physical evidence to the contrary, where would they get such ideas?

The most myopic and thus dangerous people in the world are those Americans who wish to hem and haw about the justness of the war on terror, those who think that our high-minded debates about important issues like torture trump the overall goal of winning the war, and those who think every small setback is an opportunity to score political points. Their ostensible goal of justice and peace would be far better served by understanding that in this case, any real justice and peace will have to come on the other side of war. They should be doing everything possible to help us win that war. The faster we win, the better.

"The mismanagement and the mishandling of the acute psychological problems brought about by Hurricane Katrina clearly showed that others can, at any given time, create a devastated war zone in any part of the U.S.," he said. If and when they follow through on that threat, there will be no more restraint on the part of the United States. Jazayeri's logic needs to be turned around. If one earthquake can kill 43,000 people in that region, what does he think the unleashed fury of the United States military can do?

Best to stop bickering and fight the war that needs to be fought. The alternative is far, far worse.