A Case for War: U.S. Cannot Abandon Iraq Again
Monday, May 7, 2007 at 10:36PM Bottom Line Up Front: America has failed Iraqis for over a decade and cannot give in to the Democrats’ scheme to double cross them by withdrawing military troops.
This is the first of a three part series addressing the case for war in the context of Democrats’ hope to withdraw troops from Iraq before the mission is completed.
The United States has been letting Iraqis down for well over a decade. Only a year after Saddam Hussein forced his way into leadership of Iraq in July 1979, he started a war with Iran in 1980. The war ended in 1988 and cost millions of lives. Two years later in 1990, Saddam invaded and annexed Kuwait, essentially bringing war to his people again as the U.S. lead an United Nations coalition to liberate Kuwait in August of 1990. By March 1991, the Gulf War was over and Iraq accepted the terms of the cease fire.
Iraqis, primarily the persecuted majority Shiite population, hoped the United States would end Saddam’s reign of war and terror in 1991. Many plotted to overthrow Saddam with the backing of the United States, but when the U.S. and coalition forces pulled out of Iraq leaving Saddam in power, Hussein unleashed a wrath of fury against those Iraqis who supported coalition forces and coup.
The United States, which had urged Iraqis to rise up against Saddam, did nothing to assist the rebellions. At least 100,000 Iraqis were brutally murdered by Saddam as a result.
In 1992, the U.S. government created the Iraqi National Congress (INC), based in London, with the sole purpose of overthrowing Saddam. Since then, the U.S. stood by while Saddam lived off the blood of his people through the U.N. Oil for Food scandal and could not force Saddam to comply with U.N. resolutions… until the invasion in 2003.
Now Democrats want the U.S. to pull troops out of Iraq before the country has stabilized, against the wishes of Iraq, the U.S. government and American soldiers. If a military withdrawal from Iraq were to occur, we could forget Iraq as an ally or partner in the war on terror. The opposite would be true. Iraqis would see this final blow by the United States as an unforgivable sin and Iraq would be overrun by Iran and al-Qaeda. The people of Iraq would be subjugated to more brutality and violence simply because the U.S. Congress and Senate put politics over principle, rhetoric over reason and callousness over compassion.
Should the United States sacrifice Iraq for political expediency? No, and it is morally wrong for Democrats to continue with their dangerously reckless plan to hurt the Iraqi people one last time.
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Reader Comments (10)
Since World War Two, America has fallen down on it's responsibility towards liberty. We didn't finsh Korea, but left it to a shakey cease fire not agreed to by the South Koreans and under the conditions of "until a final peaceful settlement is achieved."
That was 53 years ago and it still isn't settled.
Then came the Bay of Pigs when we were to support the Cubans as they reentered Cuba to oust Castro. We left them high and dry.
The abandonment of Viet Nam is still fresh in my mind, as well as nearly every other Viet Nam Veteran.
After our Marines were killed in Lebanon, we left the Lebanese to their own and Syria's rule.
After the First Gulf War, we encouraged Iraqis to stand up against Saddam. They did, expecting help and support from us. It never came and they were slaughtered.
When Somalia was changed from a Humanitarian Mission under Bush 1 to a more agressive mission under the UN by Clinton, and we lost a Black Hawk Helicopter and our Troops dead bodies were drug through the street, we up and left, telling Al Qaeda we will bug out as soon as the going gets a little tough.
Now, we are poised to do it again. If we tuck tail and run this time, any credibility we have a free nation will be gone. Every tin horn dictator will know that forces opposing them can expect no help from America in their struggle for freedom, so they won't be willing to try.
If you want to know the real reasons America is looked down upon, just look back at our history of abandoning struggling allies.
This isn't the America that together with other free nations, decimated the forces of evil during World War Two. We cannot let it happen again.
Kruschev once said that America could not be taken from without so it would be necessary to take it from within. Since that time, communism/socialism (one word doesn't make a different enough definition to be seperated in my mind) has tried to get a toehold in the United States. As the Communist Party of the United States they were too open and didn't gain much ground. However, they have pretty much taken over the Democratic Party, hijacked it as I've said before.
The Democratic Party is owned by George Soros. It's been publicly declared by Eli Pariser who ran moveon.org which is funded by George Soros... All hail King George!!!!
In the media we find words such as disastrous, illegal, costly, and on and on in the most negative terms that can be devised, yet, I find no hard evidence that is any way close to being the way it's portrayed. Words have meaning and P.R. value. Most people here the words and accept them without really looking at the facts. It's how companies sell products... by making theirs stick out in the minds of potential buyers rather than that of their competitors.
No war is without sacrifices or costs. Comparatively, Bush has given us the easiest war we've ever fought. Sure, maybe it has lasted longer than any other war but we've lost only a percent of a percent of the military in comparison. Such care necessitates a lengthier war. The costs are negligible to me in terms of dollars because they don't affect me directly. In past wars, the costs required sacrifices across the nation.
We go about our lives, work and recreation not much changed from before 9/11 and the war in Iraq. We have a booming economy and tax cuts instead of increases to pay for war. We suffer no shortages of any goods, let alone basic needs. Today, no one has sacrificed anything except for those families who have lost loved ones to this war or who are experiencing separations from husbands, sons, and daughters who face the dangers in that far off place. And how do we repay them for their sacrifices?
We allow the media to continue their assault on our intelligence, our schools to rewrite history books to reflect socialist views, and run from supporting what is right and decent in the world. We allow socialistic views full voice while denying the basic civil rights of patriots to dissent. We allow them to call the war disastrous often enough and loud enough that it has become truth, albeit a truth based on lies.
LewWaters said: "Now, we are poised to do it again. If we tuck tail and run this time, any credibility we have a free nation will be gone. Every tin horn dictator will know that forces opposing them can expect no help from America in their struggle for freedom, so they won't be willing to try."
We've already lost our credibility as a free nation, I'm sad to say. We are fully expected to tuck tail and run. Why do you think all the other nations are pulling out their forces now, since the newly elected Democratic majority? Regardless of what face they put on it, I don't believe in those kinds of coincidences. Those countries know what we refuse to face. The Democrats don't stand for freedom but fascism. They are communists in Democratic clothing and being manipulated by a Nazi who betrayed his own people to the soldiers who slaughtered them and drove them into concentration camps. He has money.... lots of it... enough to buy whole countries and he has... the United States.
But we can take our country back and change the course upon which we are set. If we don't, we may as well practice "All hail King George."
We wrested this country from the grasp of a dictatorial King George, centuries ago. I find it ironic that we're willing to accept another with the same name and not fight against it.
Wait a minute Steph, what are you saying with your last two paragraphs?
Blaming democrats is a skewed perspective of the reality that citizens, both democratic and republican are demanding the ride end early so they can get off.
steph said, "We've already lost our credibility as a free nation, I'm sad to say. We are fully expected to tuck tail and run." We did not lose it under democratic leaders alone, nor did we lose it recently. It has been a process of evolution over decades.
America may find its greatest danger lies not in Iraq but in its financial stability - it too the product of decades of choices.
Too often it is easy to point at a small scapegoat for simplicity when the problem is far more complex.
Hold on, are you trying to say Saddam was bad? What about those WMDs, hmm?
It's amazing that even someone like myself that supports our actions in the Iraq theater forgets the level of depravity and evil that this now dead guy stooped to.
This is one place the media could be of service in a like it or not way...this is what was Iraq.
As good old Tedward Kennedy said, "Abu ghraib under new management." That is so laughable or would be if it weren't so ludicrously skewed to an alternate reality. Yet that type of statement gets a pass by the msm.
If we leave we won't lead again unless the whole world is on the brink of destruction.
votational post at RCP as usual
"Wait a minute Steph, what are you saying with your last two paragraphs?"
Amy, I'm saying that if we don't develop a P.R. machine as strong as that of George Soros and his funded socialist groups, we will lose America. The last paragraph is a comparison... King George lost the colonies through oppression and injustices. The next King George seeks to reinstate what the old King George lost. Although, to qualify that, I think he wants to be a shadow king rather than an outright one. There's more power in the shadows as he can topple at will whoever is in the public eye.
Roxie, George Soros is the richest man in the world. He is neither a Democrat or Republican... He's a socialist who has bought the Democratic Party. Google Eli Pariser, who during a public speech declared that they own the Democratic Party. He was running moveon.org at the time. Nobody challenged that statement. You said financial stability is our greatest danger... George Soros is the richest man in the world... how much finances do you think he can bring to bear on causing financial instability in any country of his choosing? He is banned in China. He caused the financial crisis in Britain from selling the British pound short. He's had his fingers in quite a few countries' financial crises around the world. To call him a small scapegoat is an understatement. Besides he has many puppets between us and him to blame everything upon. No movement starts with a group first but with one finding one other who thinks the same who finds still others until there are enough to create a loud voice and effect changes.
You're right on one score: "it too the product of decades of choices." Our choices ultimately guide everything. However, many of our choices have been made by what's easiest or more expedient without thought to future ramifications and we're all guilty on that score.
Drop a stone in still pond and it creates ripples. The time it took to drop the stone is but one second; the ripples last for many. As the drop of that stone affects the pond, every decision we make has consequences for much more time that it took to make the decision. Nothing happens in a vacuum.
Blandly Urbane, I'm with you there but I don't think the rest of the nation is ready to hear it put so baldly as that. They call us fear mongers and worse, lol. I'm not sure how to reach out to them in a way they will listen but try we must.
Gotcha, Steph.
This is a defining moment in American history. If the U.S. pulls out, Iraqis and the rest of the world will never trust us again, or so they shouldn't. We've set the Iraqis up for failure too many times, and it doesn't make sense that if soldiers want to finish this hard job why they should be pulled out before it's completed. We have people volunteering to do this for us! Why yank the rug out from under their feet???
"We have people volunteering to do this for us! Why yank the rug out from under their feet???"
Because a democratic and free society doesn't fit the program. They have to invest in defeat so they can look the saviors later.
Amy's right. We've left the Iraqis high and dry last time- and look at what happened to the Marsh Arabs after we left.
Whether or not you agree that we should have invaded- the fact is that we did. Now we have the responsibility to finish what we started.
The sad thing is, we are on the verge of victory. I just got back from Germany collecting lessons learned from US Army and Marine Corps units in Anbar Province who routed Al Qaeda in Iraq. The movement against AQ is sweeping western Iraq. GEN Petraeus wants to use similar tactics in Baghdad. The only weapon the terrorists have left is suicide bombers, 90% wgo are foreigners. We are WINNING. Pulling out now (or worse, setting a time-table) is as insane as it gets. And the constant demonizing of our poor President plays directly into the hands of the enemy.
I sure hope Amy posts Brigadier General Anderson's "10 Myths about the Iraq War" soon, you'll be amazed by what is REALLY happening.