Painful Realization Islamo-fascism

There has been a lot of talk and its seems to be growing, about the term Islamo-fascism. If we are truly dealing with a fascistic mentality in Iraq, or even throughout the Middle-East, we are faced with a sobering reality.

We got in too soon.

Put this into historical perspective. Had England or America invaded Germany, Italy, or Japan too soon, it would have been politically unpalitable for them to conquer those countries all together. We would have been left rebuilding a resentful country. Unrepentant because after all, they would have done nothing wrong.

Of the three groups just named the mentality to the Jihadist Islamics most closely resembles the Japanese. And when we finally removed the Japanese from Iwo Jima and Okinawa we had to literally destroy the entire defending army. Of the 22,000 original Japanese combatants on Iwo Jima only 216 were taken prisoner. On Okinawa, 66,000 Japanese soldiers died or were missing with 140,000 civilians killed.

Why were the japanese so willing to fight to the death for their political agenda?

Beliefs and homeland.

For most Japanese, the emperor was decended from the Gods. They fought for the Gods. Then, as the invaders came closer to the homeland, they fought mainly to make them pay a higher price to stop the invaders from ever invading the mainland.

Applying this to what we face in Iraq is not a straight comparison. There are many middle eastern countries. There are even multiple religions in the middle east. It is simply the concept of the radicalized middle east that is the most sobering. Iraq hadn't committed enough attrocities for us to step in and catagorically convince the world and most importantantly the Iraqis and Iraq's neighbors, that the attrocities had to be stopped.

But at the base the comparison is stark. We are attacking their beliefs and we are in their homeland.

What has the reaction become? We are the perceived oppressors. The perceived enemy. This is a battle that must be won philosophically and there are no weapons I know of that can be used philosophically right now. (I can just see a whole fleet of Jehovah's Witnesses sent over to convert Iraq.)

We need to get out but if we leave now, when it implodes, it will be our fault.

If we stay we remain the focal point.

I think we should turn it over to a Middle Easter coalition of countries with Iraq trying to stick to the constitution we gave them. I realize this is a cut and run stategy; but, put into historical perspective, we're gonna get killed no matter what we do. And unlike Germany or Japan, when we went in this time we didn't level the country after years of prolonged war. The people don't need us to rebuild. They need us to get out and turn it over to them. I think that a middle eastern coalition might soften the blow somewhat.

No easy answer here.