(National Post - Canada) Mark Steyn - A new regime in Baghdad means more oil, which means cheaper prices at the pump, which means more pressure on the House of Saud. The less money they're getting from oil, the less they have to fund Islamist recruitment in Europe, South Asia, and North America. The last time the West went to war with Saddam, in 1991, Afghanistan was still Communist, as were the Central Asian republics, and Pakistan was under the corrupt Sharif regime. Eleven years later, General Musharraf is trying his hardest to be Washington's new best friend, and American forces are in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and even Georgia. The Middle East's eastern and northern borders have quietly become an American sphere of influence. That's the way Araby will look in a couple of years. It starts in Baghdad.
2002-08-16 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive