Iraq is Al Qaeda’s Vietnam

My post title isn’t from my brain, it’s from a fiery Ralph Peters column I heard about today on the Michael Medved show.  Peters explains why, although we haven’t defeated Jihadist evil, we’re currently winning, not losing.  I especially enjoyed the bit about Iraq being, not our Vietnam, but Al Qaeda’s:

Iraq has become al Qaeda’s Vietnam. No end of lies have been broadcast about our liberation of Iraq and Afghanistan “creating more terrorists.” The terrorists were already there, recruited during the decades we looked away. Our arrival on their turf just brought them out of the woodwork.

As for Iraq, Osama & Co. realized full well how high we’d raised the stakes. They had to fight to prevent the emergence of a Middle Eastern democracy. As a result, they’ve thrown in their reserves – who’ve been slaughtered by our soldiers and Marines.

The media obsesses on the price of this fight for us, but the terrorists have been forced to pay a terrible cost in trained fighters – while alienating fellow Muslims with their tactics. Pundits will argue forever over whether deposing Saddam was a diversion from the War on Terror, but the proof of its relevance – even if unexpected – is the unaffordable cost we’ve forced on al Qaeda.