Protest THIS
Spare me your laments about about Iraqi civilian and soldier deaths. In fact, spare me any anti-war whining rhetoric. I can't hear it any more. If you honestly believe that the Iraqi people, as a whole, preferred a 24 year reign of terror and oppression to a one month war, you live in a world far removed from reality.
What I saw today was an Iraqi spirit that was able to breathe free for the first time in over two decades, a spirit was more than willing to accommodate, and even cheer, a U.S. military force on their soil, because their presence meant that they could live again. If you think a regime that supports a prison system established specifically for the torture of children, and a regime that tortures Olympic athletes, is acceptable over a precision air assault and smash mouth ground offensive meant to sweep away that regime, you're probably six degrees of separation below stupid.
Meaningless inspections wouldn't have toppled that ridiculous statue of Saddam. Only force could do that. In the end, it seemed appropriate that the Iraqi civilians couldn't bring the statue down themselves, they needed U.S. help to do it, just as they could never have overthrown Hussein's regime without a massive amount of U.S. assistance.
Is this what you were protesting? If so, shut up. You're wasting air when you speak.
Al Queda could never have seen this coming in the wake of their "great victory" on 9/11. In less than two years, two regimes known to sympathize and harbor terrorists have been overwhelmingly overrun. In the wake of this display of military might in Iraq, other nations supporting terrorism are surely quaking in their boots and are rethinking their dangerous alliances with terrorist groups. 9/11, though a national tragedy for the U.S., has become al Queda's worst nightmare. We're not the America they thought we were, we're not an America that, when struck, packs up our military toys and goes home. That's what they thought the U.S. was all about. Kill a few soldiers and parade them around on television, and we'll retreat without further fight. They're learning that we do, indeed, fight. And we fight hard, and fast, and a whole hell of a lot better than they do.
Pause now, and consider that coalition forces accomplished all of this in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and they fought restrained tactics. This has been a show of military might with our best and strongest cards still being held. Jeez! Imagine what we could do if our goal wasn't liberation. Imagine what we could do if we really were pissed.
UPDATE: An e-mailer just noted that it wasn't worth the death and destruction just to see a statue fall. To you, I say, you're a fool. Would you die and kill for the freedoms we enjoy? Would you die and kill so others can enjoy them? If you answer no, then you're not worthy of those freedoms. Freedom isn't simply an American right, it's a human right, and we just enforced it.
UPDATE: Another e-mail (jeez, people, the comment engine is RIGHT THERE). "Are you done gloating now?" You know what? No, I'm not done gloating. I'm so fucking piss ass happy right now, clowns are about to fly out of my ass. Every time I see the Iraqi people dancing and taking vengeance on Saddam's images, I get that much more happy. Enjoy it. Savor it. Feel this monumental shift in history and celebrate it. And, most of all, remind those pacifist milquetoast whiners that, yes, sometimes war, even a pre-emptive war, is not only justified, but morally right.
UPDATE: But, why subject you to my joyous gloating when you can simply go here.
Posted by Ryan at April 9, 2003 12:41 PM
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