Freedom of Choice

UPDATE below.

A useful admission from blue-state central (also known as Wednesday's New York Times):

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, at a news conference in Baghdad, gave a strong endorsement of the role played by "multinational forces," the formal name for the 160,000 foreign troops serving here under American command, including about 140,000 Americans and 20,000 in contingents from some 30 other nations.

In New York, the United Nations Security Council, in a unanimously approved statement, extended the mandate of the American-led forces here beyond the end of this year.

Mr. Jaafari said Iraq's need for outside military assistance, not pre-set deadlines, should determine when American troop withdrawals should start.

"The multinational forces are not occupying forces, they are friendly forces, and they are helping us to establish security, carrying out missions in the interests of the Iraqi people, and under the authority of the government," Dr. Jaafari said. The government, he said, wanted an extension of their mandate "until we have defeated terrorism and restored security across the country."

Maybe the "unjust occupier myth" is over.

(via Indepundit)

More:

MaxedOutMama says I'm naive, citing inmates of Democratic Underground who prefer Radical Islam to Western Civilization.

I've examined that bunch before:

As shown by Ann Coulter and Charles Johnson, much of the left is terrified of Christianity, indifferent to Judaism--but staunch defenders of Islam. The left loathes mixing religion and politics--but Muslims get a "pass." Invoking Christ is forbidden, but the student commencement address at Harvard is titled "American Jihad." Though Islam may, technically, qualify as a religion, liberals apparently are willing to cooperate with any group seeking America's destruction. And they soft-pedal criticism of Islamic terrorism, even though core liberal rights and values would be the first casualty of Muslim Shari`ah law.

That's why many lefties supported Yassir Arafat and Fallujah thugs. That's why many in the media call terrorism a myth and America a menace. That's why academics rush to blame America first, eliding criticism of radical Islam. They forget that lambs that sleep with lions risk vanishing before break of day.

The late Michael Kelly—"devoted husband, adoring father and one hellacious journalist"—detested Americans who retained their socialist ideology long after the Soviet Union crumbled:

At some point it becomes a seriously immoral act to refuse to acknowledge the truth. At some point, you have to ask whether it is morally acceptable to regard those who yet refuse to come to terms with communism other than as people who have chosen to adhere to known evil. And that point has been long passed.

Three-thousand vaporized victims wasn't enough to teach the left to recognize, much less confront, evil. "Oh when will they ever learn?" Probably not before these sheep are devoured by Islamic lions.

The blame America first crowd is frightening. But I'm surprised M_O_M zoomed in on them--what about all the "true liberals" she met once, maybe 25 years ago? ;>)

M_O_M, welcome to the dark side. Yet it's not so bleak. Especially with Howard Dean at DNC, the other sort of liberal--the DU liberal?--won't get more than token support between Pittsburgh and Denver.