WHILE elements of the Left in the United States and Europe are calling on Western democracies to abandon Afghanistan and Iraq to the Taliban and al Qaeda and surrender to the Khomeinists in Iran, new alliances are emerging against the jihadists in the region.

In much of the Middle East, most notably Afghanistan and Iraq, the Left is part of these new alliances.

* In Iraq, two rival Communist parties, along with Social Democrats and other center-left groups, supported the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and continue to play a significant role in the new pluralist system. They are resolutely opposed to a premature withdrawal of American and allied forces, as demanded by the U.S. Congress.

* In Lebanon, Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party is at the heart of the democratic movement to against the Islamic Republic’s attempt to dominate the country through its Hezbollah surrogates. The Lebanese democratic movement includes other parties of the Left, notably the Socialist Salvation Movement (Inqadh) and the Movement of the Democratic Left.

Read it all:

http://www.benadorassociates.com/article/20678

“I’ve been referring to this strain of the left as “reactionary” for years now. It means people who react without thinking. It’s a perfectly appropriate term.”

Me too… but because I see them as reactionary in the old left way… They’re against progress..

They’ve got nothing to offer and seem to be picking up more and more old right stances as they go.. luddite, organic, greenies romantising the pre industrial past, anti-globalism, distaining the US due to its

What can we say?

I agree that a little negativity goes a long way, and that it is very easy to over-indulge in criticism.

However, judicious sniping is occasionally called for. Otherwise, our intellectual/political rivals’ need to be held accountable will be neglected.

The thing I don’t get about the Kossite labelling of Iraqis as being covert CIA agents is how that is supposed to be a bad thing.

If I were a democratic Iraqi, and I wanted to make a difference, I might be reluctant to work on an official basis with a foreign occupying power. But when terrorists and kidnappers and Baathists are all trying to sow anarchy and destruction, joining forces with the CIA would be an admirable and brave choice.

[T]he leader of Cambodia in 1975, wrote a letter to the US Ambassador John Dean as Mr. Dean made plans to evacuate him and his family out of the country in which the US would no longer help:

Dear Excellency and friend,

I thank you very sincerely for your letter and for your offer to transport me towards freedom. I cannot, alas, leave in such a cowardly fashion.

As for you and in particular for your great country, I never believed for a moment that you would have this sentiment of abandoning a people which has chosen liberty. You have refused us your protection and we can do nothing about it. You leave us and it is my wish that you and your country will find happiness under the sky.

But mark it well that, if I shall die here on the spot and in my country that I love, it is too bad because we are all born and must die one day. I have only committed the mistake of believing in you, the Americans.

Please accept, Excellency, my dear friend, my faithful and friendly sentiments.

Sirik Matak.

{Sirik Matak was murdered by the Khmer Rouge}

I’m not sure what agenda you’re trying to advance with this garbage but you’re deliberately choosing to ignore much of the content. Except it’s overwhelmingly in one direction.