Spelling it out
Okay, look, IÂ’ll put this as simply as I can:
1) Condi didnÂ’t lie to anybody, and neither did Dubya. Lying implies both knowledge and intent, and neither has been remotely established, nor will they be, because they do not exist. We know that Saddam at one time had WMDÂ’s; there is simply no argument possible on this. The fact of their existence was unquestioned by anybody, including the UN, after the first Gulf War, and we know he actually used them on more than one occasion. What we donÂ’t know is where they all went, and if you on the Left were truly concerned about American security in the age of global terrorism youÂ’d be a lot more worried about that than you are. You are not serious about defending this country. You are dead wrong, and you do not deserve to be taken seriously.
2) Bush acted on the best intelligence available in making the decision to remove Saddam from power; the same intelligence led President Clinton to make regime change the official goal of the USG back in ‘98. You on the Left did not denounce that policy change when Clinton made it; your interest in the matter begins and ends with your hatred of your fellow Americans who happen to be Republicans. You on the Left are not seriously concerned about the security of this nation. You are dead wrong, and you do not deserve to be taken seriously.
3) WMDs were by no means the only reason to remove Saddam. Saddam was an avowed enemy of this country. He called for our destruction many, many times. He aided and abetted Islamic terrorists of every warp and woof. He built the Salman Pak terrorist training camp. He provided safe harbor to terrorist killers like Abu Nidal and others. He encouraged the murderous depredations of Palestinian suicide bombers by rewarding their surviving family members with large cash payments which morally amounted to a bounty on the heads of innocent Israeli civilians. He attempted to assassinate a former US President, and just because it happened to be one you on the Left do not like does not mean that we as a nation can afford to ignore it. He attempted many, many times over the course of more than a decade to shoot down American aircraft engaged in a legitimate and UN-approved mission. Just because you on the Left donÂ’t like the military any more than you like the aforementioned US President doesnÂ’t mean that we as a nation can afford to ignore that. ItÂ’s one thing to ignore a ruthless, bloodthirsty, and out-of-control tyrant like Saddam on 9/10/01; itÂ’s another thing entirely to do so on 9/12. You on the Left are not seriously concerned about the defense of this nation, its citizens, and its military personnel. You are dead wrong, and you do not deserve to be taken seriously.
4) The Iraq war, contrary to repeated and shrill accusations from the Left and the mainstream press, is part and parcel of the War on Terrorism and not a distraction from it. SaddamÂ’s regime, as already noted, was a stalwart friend to Islamic terrorists, both in the Mideast and elsewhere. The Iraq war is part of a larger, bolder, and more comprehensive strategy, one spelled out explicitly by Bush many times but most recently and compellingly in his second inauguration speech. I wonÂ’t link to any specific support for these assertions; such links are scattered liberally throughout the archives here if youÂ’re truly interested in looking them up. Anyone who thinks that Saddam was innocent of any connection to Islamic terrorism, or that Iraq had nothing whatever to do with the WoT, is either foolish, ill-informed, or disingenuously promoting an agenda different from the one they claim to be promoting. They are not serious about the security of this nation. They are dead wrong, and they do not deserve to be taken seriously.
5) There was no “rush to war,” and Bush did not ignore the Europeans. He spent a year and a half begging them for cooperation in enforcing 18 different UN resolutions that they themselves had voted for; they flatly refused, because they had crooked business deals (the Oil for Food scandal; see here for details) to protect and cover up and not for any moral reasons. If the Europeans hate us, it is because of their own corruption and/or cowardice and not because of anything we’ve done. Therefore, they are dead wrong, and do not deserve to be taken seriously. And if you’re all that worried about what people sniping at us from behind a defensive shield our tax dollars and military personnel provide for them think, neither do you.
6) The elections in Iraq—contrary to repeated shrill predictions from the Left and the mainstream press of disaster, postponement, cancellation, and subterfuge on the part of the US —will take place as scheduled this Sunday. It will be an historic first step on the road to self-determination for a people who have not known it in our lifetimes. Despite the Left’s overheated rhetoric accusing Bush of being a “despot,” a “tyrant,” a “dictator,” and so on, the real dictator is even now incarcerated, held by the people he so viciously wronged, and it’s directly due to Bush’s steadfastness and determination and not at all to the resistance to taking any action repeatedly and embarrassingly demonstrated by you on the Left. It’s a cliche, but it’s true: freedom is not free, and its cost is not measured in dollars but in blood. That blood has been shed by both Americans and Iraqis in pursuit of a dream of liberty and self-determination that you on the Left would deny them even now. You are not serious in your protestations of concern for the Iraqi people. You are dead wrong, and you do not deserve to be taken seriously.
That may seem overly didactic; it may seem oversimplified, and it may even seem harsh in places. But thatÂ’s the plain truth as I see it. Damn, I just pretty much summed up three and a half years of blogging right there.
