Capitalist Lawyer
12th November 2005, 20:52
This was an opinion piece written in my local newspaper and written fairly well I might add. I can't link it due to the fact that it can only be viewed via private account.
A little over a year ago I was called up to serve a tour of duty in Iraq. While there I saw a side of the war that few have the opportunity to see: the truthful side.
Ask 8 out of 10 soldiers, who have seen time in Iraq to share their experience, and not a minute will go by before you hear of accomplishments ranging from power and phone service being restored, cleaner drinking water, young girls in school, hospitals re-opened, oil refineries being turned over to the Iraqi citizens, to an interim constitution being signed. But mostly you'll hear of an overwhelmingly hopeful response from the Iraqi people, stemming largely from the opportunity of freedom and the steadfastness displayed by the United States and its allies.
If you think this analysis is odd, ask yourself why. Could it be that the major media has done a terrible job covering this war? Could it be that leagues of power-hungry opponents to the president will do, say and print whatever they have to without shame or a sense of consequence to harm the present administration? I could tell you stories that would boil even the most liberal blood about how I saw the media betray the solider on the ground in Iraq day after day.
What is needed most to understand our involvement in Iraq is a rational explanation of moral clarity regarding the war on terrorism. The main weapon that terrorists use against the west is not bombs or guns but moral confusion: we too often hear amoral statements like: "America is also a terrorist state, because it too kills civilians."
Terrorism is not defined by the identity of its perpetrator. Nor is it defined by the cause a terrorist hides behind, whether real or imagined. Terrorism is defined by one thing and one thing alone. It is defined by the nature of the act. Terrorists systematically and deliberately attack the innocent. That is a very different thing from collateral damage.
This administration understands that if you want to fight terrorism you don't go out looking for the needle in the haystack. You burn the whole haystack! To use another analogy, when the roots of terror are cut off (power and finances) the grapes left on the vine will wither and die. That's exactly what the United States is doing now.
Yet, we have all heard it said we cannot fight two wars at one time, there is no link between Iraq and terrorism- this has long been the liberal mantra on keeping a ruthless brutal dictator in power. I must say it ridiculousness ranks right up there with my personal favorite liberal one-liner "Blood for oil."
Saddam Hussein violated 16 United Nation resolutions over a period of 10 years. He was paying the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. I saw his mass graves in Iraq, and I saw women and children with gas and chemical burns all over their bodies. If you are not convinced of Iraq's involvement in terrorism, then at last allow me to plead to your side of reason. Are we to believe that there were known and active terrorist's cells in New York, Utah, L.A., Iran, Syria, Palestine, Turkey and Afghanistan? Yet under Saddam's rule, the left wing duplicity would have us believe Iraq was free from all terrorist activity. Such a claim is clearly illogical and anyone who is not blinded by an irrational hatred of George W. Bush can see that.
The president understands that the only way to defeat terrorism is to absolutely vanquish it. What happened on September 11 was only a link in a chain in the bloody history of terrorism. This is a battle that can have only one outcome: our victory, not theirs. Think of the cruelty the 9/11 hijackers perpetrated. They flew planes full throttle, into buildings where 30,000 were working. Terrorists have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the innocent.
Tony Blair articulated this sentiment brilliantly, "There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must."
Try not to think of Iraq in terms of the day-to-day ups and downs often reported without proper context. Whether or not we win this war against terror will not be determined by the soldiers on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, but rather by the guts, and determination, displayed by the citizens of this country. The war on terror is a propaganda war; the battles that have lasting influence are fought over the minds and spirits of Americans.
A little over a year ago I was called up to serve a tour of duty in Iraq. While there I saw a side of the war that few have the opportunity to see: the truthful side.
Ask 8 out of 10 soldiers, who have seen time in Iraq to share their experience, and not a minute will go by before you hear of accomplishments ranging from power and phone service being restored, cleaner drinking water, young girls in school, hospitals re-opened, oil refineries being turned over to the Iraqi citizens, to an interim constitution being signed. But mostly you'll hear of an overwhelmingly hopeful response from the Iraqi people, stemming largely from the opportunity of freedom and the steadfastness displayed by the United States and its allies.
If you think this analysis is odd, ask yourself why. Could it be that the major media has done a terrible job covering this war? Could it be that leagues of power-hungry opponents to the president will do, say and print whatever they have to without shame or a sense of consequence to harm the present administration? I could tell you stories that would boil even the most liberal blood about how I saw the media betray the solider on the ground in Iraq day after day.
What is needed most to understand our involvement in Iraq is a rational explanation of moral clarity regarding the war on terrorism. The main weapon that terrorists use against the west is not bombs or guns but moral confusion: we too often hear amoral statements like: "America is also a terrorist state, because it too kills civilians."
Terrorism is not defined by the identity of its perpetrator. Nor is it defined by the cause a terrorist hides behind, whether real or imagined. Terrorism is defined by one thing and one thing alone. It is defined by the nature of the act. Terrorists systematically and deliberately attack the innocent. That is a very different thing from collateral damage.
This administration understands that if you want to fight terrorism you don't go out looking for the needle in the haystack. You burn the whole haystack! To use another analogy, when the roots of terror are cut off (power and finances) the grapes left on the vine will wither and die. That's exactly what the United States is doing now.
Yet, we have all heard it said we cannot fight two wars at one time, there is no link between Iraq and terrorism- this has long been the liberal mantra on keeping a ruthless brutal dictator in power. I must say it ridiculousness ranks right up there with my personal favorite liberal one-liner "Blood for oil."
Saddam Hussein violated 16 United Nation resolutions over a period of 10 years. He was paying the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. I saw his mass graves in Iraq, and I saw women and children with gas and chemical burns all over their bodies. If you are not convinced of Iraq's involvement in terrorism, then at last allow me to plead to your side of reason. Are we to believe that there were known and active terrorist's cells in New York, Utah, L.A., Iran, Syria, Palestine, Turkey and Afghanistan? Yet under Saddam's rule, the left wing duplicity would have us believe Iraq was free from all terrorist activity. Such a claim is clearly illogical and anyone who is not blinded by an irrational hatred of George W. Bush can see that.
The president understands that the only way to defeat terrorism is to absolutely vanquish it. What happened on September 11 was only a link in a chain in the bloody history of terrorism. This is a battle that can have only one outcome: our victory, not theirs. Think of the cruelty the 9/11 hijackers perpetrated. They flew planes full throttle, into buildings where 30,000 were working. Terrorists have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the innocent.
Tony Blair articulated this sentiment brilliantly, "There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must."
Try not to think of Iraq in terms of the day-to-day ups and downs often reported without proper context. Whether or not we win this war against terror will not be determined by the soldiers on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, but rather by the guts, and determination, displayed by the citizens of this country. The war on terror is a propaganda war; the battles that have lasting influence are fought over the minds and spirits of Americans.