Pelosization of the Middle East

Amir Taheri demolishes the pathetic Nancy Pelosi. The damage done by this idiotic woman could be incalculable.

Hating America, Loving Nancy

What would the Middle East look like if the Pelosi Doctrine becomes the matrix of U.S. foreign policy?

America would withdraw from Iraq before the new Iraqi regime is capable of defending itself against its internal and external foes. Iraq's fate would be in the hands of rival regional powers - led by Iran's Islamic Republic - along with their clients in Iraq.

Afghanistan's new democratic regime would also come under possibly fatal pressure. The country's fate would then be in the hands of rival powers - notably Iran, Pakistan and Russia - in conjunction with their Afghan clients.

In the absence of pressure from Washington, the region's current trend toward reform and liberalization would largely come to a halt. Concerned about the rise of radical forces and greater hostility from revolutionary actors, such as the Islamic Republic in Tehran and the revived al Qaeda, Arab regimes would postpone democratization and revert to repressive methods.

Lebanon's "Cedar Revolution" would fade into memory, as Syrian troops return to Beirut to resume occupation.

The Pelosization of U.S. foreign policy would also encourage the "one-state" camp with regard to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Most regional powers support a two-state solution in the context of the Saudi Peace Proposals - but the two-state option is based on the assumption that America remains an active element in its support, rather than a mediator hedging its bets.

Pelosization could plunge the Middle East into endless civil and regional wars, facilitate the return of terrorist organizations now facing defeat and ultimate destruction, and, in time, threaten U.S. national security on a grander scale. That, in turn, could force the United States into wars bigger and costlier than the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq that Pelosi regards as mistakes.

Opinion Journal also weighs in this morning.

So this is Democratic foreign policy: Assure our enemies that they can ignore a President who still has 21 months to serve; and wash their hands of Baghdad and of their own guilt for voting to let Mr. Bush go to war. No doubt Democrats think the President's low job approval, and public unhappiness with the war, gives them a kind of political immunity. But we wonder.

Once we leave Iraq, America's enemies will still reside in the Mideast; and they will be stronger if we leave behind a failed government and bloodbath in Iraq. Mr. Bush's successor will have to contain the damage, and that person could even be a Democrat. But by reverting to their Vietnam message of retreat and by blaming Mr. Bush for all the world's ills, Democrats on Capitol Hill may once again convince voters that they can't be trusted with the White House in a dangerous world.

The blood will be on their hands.