I have no respect for authoritarians' utter lack of vision; whatever they claim drives their cruelty and torment is not so great as the selfish will to dominate and consume. No matter how brilliant history's conquerers may be described as, their failure and downfall has always come from a destructive esurience; an ultimately uncontrollable need for the infliction of pain and the distention of power. It is a simple, thoughtless need. Evil men, from diabolical propagandists to simple thugs, mock principle and code. There is no divide between Pan-Arabist and Islamist or Sunni and Shiite when those beliefs are hollowed out by a hatred of free will and a desire to subvert and enslave. But even the mindlessness of animals can succeed in disarming men. The authoritarians' most formidable asset is a tactical one: the immediate and overwhelming use of violence to sow fear and doubt, and gain submission. The threats free nations face, dictators and terrorists, are aided by modern and 20th-Century inventions. Even while terrorists' indiscriminate obsession with killing is often fed at the expense of strategic concerns, terrorists succeed in disspiriting the lukewarm and morally disinterested. For those who look no further than the slaughter of innocents, lacking faith in free societies to withstand the rule of force, the simplistic acts of murders in the short term could very well win entire wars.

Yesterday morning I heard on television what appears to have become a insistent canard among relativist doubters of the relationship between extremist culture and oppression, terrorists and dictatorships: that indeed, Arabs weren't meant for free and peaceful societies. The Allies should wash their hands and leave. That one final, poorly conceived gasp of killing and brutalizing is enough to condemn millions; never mind that Moqtada al-Sadr's days are numbered, or nearly fifty thugs have died in Fallujah for every American Marine, or that Iraqis - as worried and bleak as some may be - will take every measure to live freely, more as they build confidence in their ability as a people. Relativists claim that the very forces impeding the transition to liberal democracy are intrinsic elements of Iraqi society; they're wrong. I heard one man talk of "tribal chieftains" being given the chance to struggle for control, as if all Iraqis were savages - rather than, as in every other dark place on the earth, decent people held under tyranny by a murderous few. Were feudal thugs immutable from within Western civilization? Or monarchy? Or exclusive suffrage? And do these people believe for a moment that failed, strife-ridden states aren't exactly where terrorists seek to embed themselves - have they already forgotten Afghanistan?

On this weblog I have maintained for nearly two years that the war on terror will only be won when the Near East has been democratized. Iraq's liberation is the first and most critical stage of that campaign. Abandoning millions to certain recapture by strongmen would be on one hand unconscionable, antithetical to the laws that gird our way of life; and on the other, a tragic, early end to the realization of freedom for all men.

The free world has come far - Chief Wiggles explains why. And we need not be discouraged nor surprised by the retaliation of authoritarians; Wretchard and Ali know why.

FOG ROLLS IN: Steven Den Beste analyzes the latest wide discrepancy between what many press agencies report and what actually happened. Most egregious is the insinuation that the ceasefire in Fallujah is somehow the product of an American military failure. But most reports place "Iraqi" deaths in the hundreds - six hundred now the prevailing number. Marines, whose losses are apparently so low as to not warrant mention by an otherwise casualty-eager media, believe most of those dead were combatants. [I've also seen more than one report combine all American casualties from the beginning of the month of April or earlier, then insert that figure into the same sentence as Fallujah terrorist casualties. Obviously they don't draw from the best source. I count thirty deaths in al Anbar Province, which includes several trouble spots.] Add the fact that Marine reinforcement proceeded during negotiations, and the last week in Fallujah appears to have been the first part of a rout by American forces.

Omar found a moment of selflessness immortalized in the news:

Military officials said they got an unexpected assist from some Iraqi civilians who offered their cars and, in one instance, a bus to take wounded troops to safety.

Thank you, Iraq. This is one war - a war for the freedom of all men.

I'm quite busy today, which is just as well with the world's most important events moving much faster than commentary. The Boston Herald acknowledges the general agreement that Moqtada al-Sadr is as politically impotent as he is dangerous and wholly incompatible with a free Iraq. This particular report, however, includes a possible alliance between Shiite and Sunni gangs. At the same time, the beating that authoritarian forces have received from the Allies - the ambushed Marines who lost twelve yesterday killed terrorists nearly six to one - can't be lost in the shock of the situation. It's especially pertinent when popular support for this violence remains pitifully low. The thugs' coalescence, just as they insist to finally go toe-to-toe with insuperable foreign militaries and well-equipped Iraqis, could be the opportunity the Allies have been waiting for. If it is: as Zeyad puts it, now is not the time for diffidence. In the CPA or the American public. (Link via IP.)

Matt Drudge, for all his resources and visibility, apparently can't do better than a gaggle of negative or alarmist reports and an alliterative headline. He didn't even catch this Christian Science Monitor deconstruction of Moqtada al-Sadr. So it's best to find your news and analysis on Iraq's current situation elsewhere. Blackfive found a letter from Engineer Corps GI Joe Roche, who begs to differ with morose characterizations of Baghdad's situation. (Original link from Amy Ridenour.) IP links to the magnificent Amir Taheri working overtime to prevent our overreaction to the deadly work of shunned extremists. And Wretchard, usually ascetic when I've read him, regards the cultural monolith we face in the Near East with some poetry and prose. And if you want all of the news, head to the Winds of Change war update.

ALSO: Ralph Peters isn't happy, but he isn't gawking, either. (Link via IP.)

I DON'T THINK RALPH WILL LIKE THIS: According to the New York Times, the Allies want al-Sadr's end to be part self-destruction, part native justice. When I first read this article I interpreted the deference as another sign of irresolution (which the Wall Street Journal critiqued quite smartly today). But considering that al-Sadr is marginalized, supported by about 1% of Shiites, the Bush administration may be working from knowledge we haven't got.

One final thought: it may indeed turn out that the next few days see the insurgent forces in Iraq decisively smashed, having carelessly put themselves on the Allies' military terms. Waiting out the terrorists in Iraq may have been inevitable. So to paraphrase Steven Den Beste, passion may yet be our worst enemy, subtlety our ace.

MORE: Moqtada may receive Iraqi justice but his followers, apparently, will be served American-style; and quickly.

Zeyad's chilling report on civil disarray took more than one blogger by surprise, the former almost teetering into panic. Now that the shock of news has subsided and the events are slowly being set into perspective, Glenn Reynolds responds to several very insightful reader e-mails. He says:

It's worth emphasizing that this is factional fighting, not popular uprising, and that Sadr is not particularly popular outside his own faction.

Déjà vû? Back in August, a car bomb in Najaf led Tacitus to conclude that a Shiite civil war had begun. It hadn't. Uncertainties notwithstanding, I wondered if the violence was merely the bloody jockeying of rival Islamist gangs. Earlier today, when Zeyad's worried blogging made the rounds, I sent an e-mail to someone pointing out that "No one knows how isolated or gang-like (rather than popular and random) the violence is." So, then: have Iraq's Thug's Guilds begun a shakedown? If so, will the fighting draw in other parties?

Maybe. But I see two certainties. First, the situation is far from out of control; not to be overly grim, but if Baghdad's population of five million were descending into chaos, casualties would be numbering well into the hundreds, even thousands. Anecdotes, photographs and maps will easily compress a city larger than New York into a hamlet - we can never forget that.

Second, as everybody is taking the time to notice, Moqtada al-Sadr is worth less in Iraq than a Saddamite dinar. As IP reader Eric Hall postulates, the Allies are lucky that Iraq's spiders have been coaxed out before the political transfer, when - pardon the pun - boots are still on the ground. We have even less to worry about in the long run if the authorities foresaw advantages to cracking down now, and are exploiting the inevitable to rout major components of instability once and for all.

IF THIS ISN'T WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR: Over the past several days I've been checking my referrals and several web surfers have entered this post looking for, I assume, information on spiders in Iraq and not my figurative usage. If so, here's a news article and here is a rather unsettling picture of the camel spider. I hope you find what you're looking for.

Muqtada al-Sadr wanted attention, and he's got it:

Paul Bremer, the top US administrator in Iraq, has declared radical Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr an “outlaw” who threatens Iraq’s security.

“Effectively he is attempting to establish his authority in the place of the legitimate authority. We will not tolerate this," said Bremer. “We will reassert the law and order which the Iraqi people expect,” Bremer told a security team meeting convened to discuss how to respond to Sadr.

...Al-Sadr does not hold widespread support among Iraq’s Shi'ites, many of whom see him as too young and inexperienced to lead.

But enough to obstruct progress in Iraq. Congratulations to the Allies - they've responded as they should have. Meanwhile, the Allies move into position around Fallujah.

IT'S OVER: An Iraqi judge has issued an arrest warrant for one Muqtada al-Sadr. The charge? Murder. It's not certain whether the phony cleric will come quietly but without a doubt, a scheming extremist with a misguided following will meet his end - and Iraqi democratization will be one step further along.

I've added weblog the Belmont Club to my list of links - where some lose their way in pretentious equivocations, Wretchard dispenses solid analysis and links to other appropriately dispassionate heavyweights like Dan Darling. Wretchard knows military matters, and has been keeping one heck of a cool head on both Fallujah and the highly anticipated, coordinated unrest in other parts of Iraq.

It is to be expected that in the first months and years of democratization, the population of a country will be enticed by extremist ideologies and their advocates. Iraq is no different. Muqtada al-Sadr has meant no good to either the Allied occupation or pluralist democracy. He is a thug of the first order. Now he has declared open war:

The firebrand Shia Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr declared Friday that he would become the striking arm for Hezbollah and Hamas in Iraq, signaling his opposition to the U.S. occupation might turn violent.

An alliance between al-Sadr and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas could present a grave challenge for the United States as it prepares to hand formal political power to Iraqis on June 30.

"I will support the real Islamic unity that has been created by Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of the victorious Hezbollah, with Hamas," al-Sadr said at a Friday sermon in the southern city of Kufa. "I want them to accept me as their striking arm in Iraq, as necessity and opportunity dictate."

Notably, the article considers al-Sadr's unrepealable declaration a bid to lift his sagging support. Indeed, extremism loses its popularity as a society liberalizes and stabilizes. There is no longer any sliver of a chance for political resolution that the diplomats in the Coalition Provisional Authority might have been hoping for. Al-Sadr has been an opponent of civil authority and natural rights; now he is an ally of Islamism and authoritarianism. Not a troublemaker - but a terrorist. If the Allies and the Iraqi Governing Council - and President Bush himself - wish to keep the trust of the Iraqi people, they should immediately discard all illusions of mollifying al-Sadr, then permanently remove the base strongman and end his movement.

TRUE TO HIS SICKENING WORD: Fighting has begun with al-Sadr's followers. The deaths of the Allies and Iraqis are tragic, especially at a time when democratic sovereignty is imminent, but this insurrection has been waiting to happen. It must be put down.

WHAT IRAQI DEMOCRATS ARE SAYING: Zeyad minces no words in his disgust for al-Sadr:

Last word from Muqty was that he asked his followers to stop demonstrating and to resort to 'other methods' since demonstrations aren't working. Al-Jazeera is having difficulties concealing their excitement and they have already coined this as the 'start of the Shia resistance in Iraq'.

Iraqis know very well who those 'pious' people are. They are gangsters, rapists, murderers, thieves, kidnappers, looters, and criminals. They are only using religion as cover. I can't even dream of what would happen if those people were left to make trouble on our streets that way without punishment. I believe that it's now time for Al-Sadr to experience a very bad accident soon.

Read it yourself. The vast majority of Iraqis who want peace and freedom know exactly what mongrels al-Sadr and his ilk are. Omar agrees, adding:

I think that we have many respectable personalities in the GC and they should do their move now and speak to the people to make them understand the seriousness of the situation. Also Sistani and other religious leaders should do something about it if they really care about Iraqis’ lives and Iraq’s future. They should be direct and tell those who think that they’re resisting the “occupation” that these actions will delay Iraq’s independence and that they just have to wait for less than 90 days to get sovereignty. As for those who cannot be reasoned with, I think they should be prevented from hindering the progress in Iraq by all the necessary means.

Good intentions are things that evil gleefully swallows up. Force must be used to keep Iraq safe, and the most interested parties are ready to defend their newfound freedom. As an Iraqi expatriate puts it, "You will never defeat us."

I've been asking very recently where the left stands on the Iraqis' and others' struggle for democratic freedom. Here's where some of them stand. I have only one word to describe those who literally cheer for tyranny: despotaphiles.

THE TIES THAT BIND: It seems that some Democrats running for office thought that the thug-snuggling twerp who made the statement in question was worth some publicity. Now they can enjoy the privilege of sharing browser space with fifth column garbage in 11-point Helvetica. An effort is being made to inform these politicians; one of them, Jane Mitakides, is running for Ohio's 3rd Congressional District and had some complimentary words for the blogger before this. I sent a letter and await both a response and a repudiation. Dayton's some distance from Cleveland but not so far that Mitakides' refusal to disavow this garbage cannot be broadcast to 3rd District voters. Needless to say, her opponent, incumbent Mike Turner, has been notified.

THAT'S TWO: Joe Donnelly has removed his advertisements.

THREE: Jim Hoeffel is apparently out, too.

FOUR?: Not yet. Jane Mitakides' homepage has removed its reference and link to the offending website. At this moment, 1:45 PM EST, Saturday, her advertisement and weblog return welcome are still operational.

AS USUAL: Glenn Reynolds offers a pretty good sum-up for all of this.

FOUR: Jane Mitakides has removed her advertisement, offering a somewhat left-handed explanation. Fair enough: the sincerity of this statement can be gauged by Mitakides' Republican opponent.

Another sign of progress:

A private airline plans on launching its first charter flight from Baltimore's BWI airport to the northern Iraqi city of Irbil in late April. "This is a rescue effort," said Marshall Adame of Sky Airlines. "This is an effort to take an entire country and put them back on their feet."

Security is naturally a concern now and will be a major factor for Sky's operations. In spite of localized terrorism in Iraq, however, the country is normalizing and taking step after step into the modern free world.