Bush's fundamentalism -- not what we bargained for

Bush now says he'd accept a democratically-elected fundamentalist government in Iraq.

So, all of those U.S. soldiers dead, all of those Muslims now enraged by the U.S. occupation, all of our allies alienated (and, yes, I include the UK; Tony Blair is a very lonely man), just so we could create a sister-state for Iran.

Insanity. A nightmare we won't be waking from soon.

Juan Cole gives us the alarming trends:

I think it can be fairly argued that the Bush "war on terror" has actually spread Islamic fundamentalism. (Bush coddling of Ariel Sharon's harsh policies in Palestine has also contributed).

Since Bush began acting aggressively in the region, the United Action Council of (often pro-Bin Laden!) fundamentalist parties in Pakistan has come to power by itself in the Northwest Frontier Province, in coalition in Baluchistan, and has 17% of the seats in parliament! Despite Pakistan's unwarranted reputation for "fundamentalism," in fact most Pakistanis are Sufis or traditionalists who dislike fundamentalism, and the latter parties seldom got more than 2-3% of seats in any election in which they ran. Until Bush came along.

In Iraq, a whole series of Muslim fundamentalist parties-- al-Da`wa, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Sadrists, the Salafis, and now al-Qaeda, have been unleashed by Bush. They seem likely to win any election held in Iraq, since the secularists remain disorganized.

In the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan now slated for spring 2005, the Taliban or the cousins of the Taliban are likely to be a major party, benefiting from the Pushtun vote.

We could go on (a similar story of new-found fundamentalist strength could be told for Indonesia, e.g.) The real legacy of Bush to the Muslim world will likely not be secular democracy, but the provocation of Muslim publics into voting for the Muslim fundamentalists on a scale never before seen in the region.

At the risk of sounding flippant (a risk I've taken many, many times before), exactly how much has the Iranian government and the head scarf manufacturers of the world given to the Bucheney campaign?

Meanwhile, George Tenet now tells us the war was wrong. A bit late, hey George?