Again it must be emphasized: the liberals in the US have lost the capacity to understand what is happening in the Middle East with regards to al-Qaeda and their actions and loss in Iraq. The left cannot accept their own mistakes on the issues so they pretend all the changes coming from our successes in Iraq don’t exist. Thankfully this denial has not blinded the liberals in Europe to the same degree. Check out this eye opening piece in the UK’s Financial Times:

During a recent Democratic debate, for example, Mr Obama declared: “We are seeing al-Qaeda stronger now than at any time since 2001.” Mrs Clinton says President George W. Bush’s policies in Iraq have “emboldened our enemies”. We should leave Iraq, she says, so we can better focus on the threat of al-Qaeda.

In fact, in large measure because of what is unfolding in Iraq, the tide within the Islamic world is beginning to run strongly against al-Qaeda – and this, in turn, may be the single most important ideological development in recent years.

In November 2007 Sayyid Imam al-Sharif (“Dr Fadl”) published his book, Rationalizations on Jihad in Egypt and the World, in serialised form. Mr Sharif, who is Egyptian, argues that the use of violence to overthrow Islamic governments is religiously unlawful and practically harmful. He also recommends the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two and its ideological leader, and calls the attacks on September 11 2001 a “catastrophe for all Muslims”.

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Another important event occurred in October 2007, when Sheikh Abd Al-‘Aziz bin Abdallah Aal Al-Sheikh, the highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia, issued a fatwa prohibiting Saudi youth from engaging in jihad abroad.

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A month earlier Sheikh Salman alAwdah, an influential Saudi cleric whom Mr bin Laden once lionised, wrote an “open letter” condemning Mr bin Laden. “Brother Osama, how much blood has been spilt? How many innocents among children, elderly, the weak, and women have been killed and made homeless in the name of al-Qaeda?” Sheikh Awdah wrote. “The ruin of an entire people, as is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq . . . cannot make Muslims happy.”

I noted in a recent post that young Iraqis, the next generation of Muslims, are rejecting extremist Islam (Islamo Fascism). The fact is Islam is turning on al-Qaeda, and turning away as well. I have said it many times, but I will say it again because it is important and historic. After 9-11 al-Qaeda was the future of Islam. After Iraq al-Qaeda is the enemy of Islam. That is the legacy of George W Bush.