Hamas is an Islamofascist terrorist organization with stated intentions to destroy the nation of Israel. It is funded by Iran and an important part of the Islamist extremists' strategy for violently taking and holding power in the middle east.
Bush and his rubber stamp supporters have long argued that their "war on terrorism" was the solution.
They've argued that the invasion of Iraq was done to protect the US and the world from terrorism.
They've claimed that the Iraq quagmire was a way to bring democracy to the region.
Now we know. By taking out Saddam, Bush and his military coward sycophants, the ones who chose to keep their jobs rather than tell Bush and Cheney their plans were insane, actually disturbed, no, make that destroyed the balance of power in the region. They handed un-checked power over to Iran. The Iranians have really run with the gift Bush, Cheney, Colin Powell and the other failed generals delivered to them.
How have the Iranians run with this gift? They have supported the Shia faction in Iraq. They've provided massive funding and weapons for Hezbollah in Lebanon, for the Syrians, for Hamas... and of course, they've had a lot of free time to dabble with nukes.
The Hamas victory should be viewed alongside the eruption of violence happening in Lebanon. We can and should expect much more of this.
The Republican presidential candidates have suggested that the future big threat is radical Islamic theofascism. There's some truth there. The problem is, the Bush/Republican policy and model of "the war against terror" has clearly, misguidedly and stupidly increased the threat, worsened the danger and fed the power of the fundamentalist mullahs who have already taken power in too many regions of the world.
The Hamas victory is a frightening beginning of what is to come. Their victory will inspire uprisings and terrorist attacks all over the world.
It will be very surprising if Israel does not, within a short time, do something very aggressive, very violent, in response to Hamas' takeover of Gaza. That is a sad, but not unexpected spiralling effect of the violence.
Even the leaders of the nearby Arab nations are very concerned that this conflict will lead to further destabilization of the region. The should be. It is surely going to cause them grief. Iran will get guns to the fundamentalist insurgent elements in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Arab Emirates, Dubai, Qatar, Lebanon, Turkey, Malyasia, Indonesia... and there will be more violence.
There is little hope of peace, of resolution of disagreements, even of cessation of escalation of hostilities so long as Bush and Rice are running things. They have proven to be not only incompetent, but also uninterested in moving towards peace. On the contrary, they are accomodating the rapture-ready religious fundamentalists in the USA.
The world has become a far more dangerous, less stable place because of Bush and his supporters. There is not doubt that a worried world waits with bated breath for the people of America to end the insanity.
Perhaps the real war against terrorism should be a war against religious extremism-- by Muslims, Jews and Christians.
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