The Red Pill

OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today:
More proof that Iraq is, in fact, the frontline on the war against Terror.

"Back on July 7 we noted the 'flypaper' theory of columnist David Warren: that American troops in Iraq are an irresistible attraction for Islamist terrorists. Now the New York Times has waddled in with a report making the same argument:
In much the same way as the Russian invasion of Afghanistan stirred an earlier generation of young Muslims determined to fight the infidel, the American presence in Iraq is prompting a rising tide of Muslim militants to slip into the country to fight the foreign occupier, Iraqi officials and others say.
'Iraq is the nexus where many issues are coming together--Islam versus democracy, the West versus the axis of evil, Arab nationalism versus some different types of political culture,' said Barham Saleh, the prime minister of this Kurdish-controlled part of northern Iraq. 'If the Americans succeed here, this will be a monumental blow to everything the terrorists stand for.'
The Times headline calls Iraq the 'ultimate battlefield,' which if anything is too optimistic, though of course we share the hope that there will be no need for further battlefields. In any case, this ought to put an end to all foolishness about Iraq being a 'distraction' from the war against terrorism. "