They want us to leave

Fred Kaplan at Slate writes an interesting article about a point that is too often overlooked in the "War on Terror."

They don't hate our freedom. They want us to leave.

Kaplan reviews three different studies of suicide bombers which all try to understand why they blow themselves up in the first place.

The overwhelming conclusion is that suicide bombers are motivated by "a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel democracies to withdraw military forces from the terrorists' national homeland."

None of this is to say the easy solution now is to just get out of Iraq and never look back. In fact, earlier withdrawals by the Reagan and Clinton administrations helped solidify the notion in these jihadist's minds that suicide bombings were a successful tactic.

Near the end of the article, Kaplan writes

The most vital lesson Americans can draw from this sorry saga, in retrospect, is that we shouldn't initiate foreign adventures unless they involve interests worth considerable sacrifice. But a more immediate—and regrettable—lesson is that, having blundered our way into Iraq, we can't hand these bastards a victory (which is what it would be) by giving in to their demands. It would only embolden them further the next time our interests clash.

It looks as though establishing a government with a legitimate Sunni presence may provide us with the best chance for a withdrawal that cedes little to the terrorists.

In the meantime, I think it would be refreshing if we didn't fall into the same cookie-cutter patriotic rhetoric whenever there is a terror attack. Our freedom means little to the radicals in the Middle East. In their minds, it's their freedom they're fighting for.