“Creatures” Fight “Handouts From The Ruler”

… we must know who we are fighting. Some of these people are creatures of a deposed tyrant, others a small number of home-grown and imported Islamist extremists. They feed on a portion of the population that is overwhelmed by feelings of fear, resentment, and despair.

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As I have said, our strategy is to clear, hold, and build. The enemy’s strategy is to infect, terrorize, and pull down.

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They target foreigners…. The terrorists want us to get discouraged and quit. They believe we do not have the will to see this through.

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But the enemy strategy has a fatal flaw. The enemy has no positive vision for the future of Iraq. They offer no alternative that could unite Iraqi as a nation. And that is why most Iraqis despise the insurgents. The enemy leaders know their movement is unpopular. Zawahiri’s July letter to Zarqawi reveals that he is “extremely concerned” that, deprived of popular support, the insurgents will “be crushed in the shadows.” “We don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the Taliban,” he warned, whose regime “collapsed in days, because the people were passive or hostile.” Knowing how unpopular they are, the enemy leaders also hate the idea of democracy.

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The strategy that is being carried out has profited from the insights of strategic thinkers, civilian and military, inside and outside of government, who have reflected on our experience and on insurgencies in other periods of history.

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As this strategy is being implemented, the military side recedes and the civilian part – like police stations and civic leaders and economic development -- move into the foreground. Our transition strategy emphasized the building of the Iraqi army.

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Let me assure you, the United States will not try to pick winners. We will support parties and politicians in every community who are dedicated to peaceful participation in the future of a democratic Iraq.

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Thanks to you and other members of Congress, the United States has already invested billions of dollars to keep electricity and fuel flowing across Iraq. In the transition phase, we concentrated on capital investment, adding capacity to a system that had deteriorated to the point of collapse. But, with freedom, the demand for electricity has gone up by 50% …

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Millions of farmers, small businessmen, and investors need a government that encourages growth rather than fostering dependence on handouts from the ruler.

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We will embed our diplomats, police trainers, and aid workers more fully on military bases, traveling with our soldiers and marines.

• Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice, Opening Remarks Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Washington, DC, October 19, 2005. [emphasis added]