Where If Not Iraq?
With September 11 in recent memory, Saddam Hussein’s defiance of U.N. resolutions, Iraqi artillery firing on U.S. and British aircraft in the no-fly zone and horrendous treatment of Kurdish and Shia populations within Iraq, President Bush enjoyed widespread political support for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq by Allied Forces. Major detractors would be France, Germany and Russia who’s substantial financial interest in the Saddam regime led them to delay U.N. actions and assure Saddam the U.S. would not follow through with warnings of the pending invasion. Still, on the home front, most Republicans and Democrats alike supported what was not only perceived as a retaliatory strike but the removal of a tyrannical despot as well.
With the exception of Syria, led by Saddam’s Baathist cousins, Iraq’s neighbors had been relieved of the military threat that had relentlessly taken their blood and treasure without rhyme or reason over three decades. Kurds and Shias were relieved of oppression and would hold on to great hopes for a better future through to the general elections of December 2005. The American public in general felt a sense of justice and relief from a pending threat from weapons of mass destruction.
The consensus on the value of victory would be short lived. Democrats in and out of Congress would dwell on the intelligence leading up to the war rather than the task at hand. Along with the press, they would suppress the shortcomings of the intelligence community and craft a portrait of a President ignoring the world to pursue his own evil intent. The real prize is to secure political power not serve the American people; daemonizing Bush has worked well. And all the parties in the region who welcomed Saddam’s demise would now vehemently oppose the new threat; a secular capitalist democracy with oil deposits with as great as if not greater chance of success than any state in the region. And that is why Iraq is the place to be!
Until Iraq resistance to terrorism has been fought on the turf of the terrorist’s choosing; Palestine, the Philippines, Indonesia, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Madrid, Paris, Munich, London and New York. Detractors from the “War On Terrorism” are fond of pointing out that Osama ben Laden is in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan and this is where we need to redeploy. This works for their supporters who pay little attention to the fact that the death of Yasser Arafat didn’t as much as pause the carnage caused by the descendants of the PLO.
Iran continues funding and arming Hamas along with both Sunni and Shia terrorist groups in Iraq and around the world. Saudi Arabia supports Wahhabism around the world including Western capitals where the radicals have learned to manipulate their liberal legal systems. We need to be where we can be in the midst of their culture and cause internal pressure within their populations. Where If Not Iraq? [ro_3]