America Still Can’t Afford to Take a Holiday from History

Sept. 12 2024

Clifford May looks at Iran’s role in the growth of violent Islamism and at the consequences of America’s failure to sustain the fight against jihadists:

In 2011, President Barack Obama withdrew all U.S. military forces from Iraq, leading to the rise of the Islamic State group . . . and further opening Iraq to Iran’s influence. In 2021, President Biden withdrew all U.S. military forces from Afghanistan. That proved that Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, planner of the 9/11 attacks, was correct when he told his CIA interrogators that jihadists can be confident of victory because “we only need to fight long enough for you to defeat yourself by quitting.”

For many years, Americans hoped that Russia and China would side with us in the Global War on Terrorism. . . . Xi Jinping, China’s Communist ruler, and Vladimir Putin, Russia’s neo-imperialist dictator, had agreed to a “no-limits” partnership in February 2022, just days before Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Both went on to establish close relations with Ali Khamenei, the Islamist “supreme leader” of Iran.

Mr. Khamenei has begun sending ballistic missiles to Russia. There are numerous other examples of military cooperation among the members of [this] axis of aggressors. North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela are also members. Are Americans capable of understanding that, 23 years after the 9/11 attacks, we’re in an even more dangerous era—no time for peace dividends and holidays from history?

Read more at Washington Times

More about: 9/11, Iran, Iraq war, U.S. Foreign policy, War on Terror

Expand Gaza into Sinai

Feb. 11 2025

Calling the proposal to depopulate Gaza completely (if temporarily) “unworkable,” Peter Berkowitz makes the case for a similar, but more feasible, plan:

The United States along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE should persuade Egypt by means of generous financial inducements to open the sparsely populated ten-to-fifteen miles of Sinai adjacent to Gaza to Palestinians seeking a fresh start and better life. Egypt would not absorb Gazans and make them citizens but rather move Gaza’s border . . . westward into Sinai. Fences would be erected along the new border. The Israel Defense Force would maintain border security on the Gaza-extension side, Egyptian forces on the other. Egypt might lease the land to the Palestinians for 75 years.

The Sinai option does not involve forced transfer of civilian populations, which the international laws of war bar. As the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other partners build temporary dwellings and then apartment buildings and towns, they would provide bus service to the Gaza-extension. Palestinian families that choose to make the short trip would receive a key to a new residence and, say, $10,000.

The Sinai option is flawed. . . . Then again, all conventional options for rehabilitating and governing Gaza are terrible.

Read more at RealClear Politics

More about: Donald Trump, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula