The Long Trek Toward
Success In The War Against Terrorism's Iraqi Front
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Headlines scream, "Looting By
Iraqis," "US Fails To Meet Its Peacekeeping Obligations," "Iraqis
Complain US Deposed Hussein, But Failed To Save National Treasures." It took
the US-led coalition less than three weeks to liberate the Iraqi people. Their
despotic dictator had been in control for 34 years, built a secret police structure
perhaps more effective than the Nazi's, murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, invaded
two sovereign nations, stole billions of dollars, tortured and terrified 23 million people
of whom 80% were born --- and therefore spent their entire lives ---
living in demented confinement. |
| The
United States has proven again, and in a different manner, that
by living under a capitalistic, representative democracy and
making quality education available for all its citizens, a
nation can provide an environment wherein most individuals can
achieve and succeed. It also demonstrated that when that
nation of successful individuals is threatened from without it
will retaliate to protect itself. ...And most
importantly, that nation will destroy the force of evil that
threatens its existence. |
| Immediately
upon being liberated, the Iraqi people acted as any living
creatures would naturally react to having their cage doors
opened. The Iraqi people ran free. In the course of this
running and celebrating they took out their one-third century
long, pent up vengeance upon government buildings, symbols of
the Hussein regime, and searched everywhere for remains and
records of their family members and friends who had disappeared
over the last decades. This free and natural quest by
everyday people gained momentum and turned into wild,
uncontrollable looting. Acting just like sports fans
who are ecstatic because their team won, the Iraqi people
--- with more justification than sports fans ---
went too far and their actions turned into looting. All
this lasted for some four or five days, depending upon the city. |
| But
fueled by the media --- the same media who just days
before had announced that it knew the US-led coalition's
Strategic Battle Plan was seriously flawed and was destined to
fail --- the Iraqi people tried to use media cameras
in search of help, but instead were lured into the media's
spider web. The media, always searching for pathetic
pawns, placed on stage select Iraqis with legitimate complaints
about looting of businesses and museums --- all this
within hours of liberation and before soldiers had time to
secure the cities and make them safe. The media shouted about
the looting subplot and under-played the main plots of
liberation, the end of Hussein's regime, and the amazingly
accurate and limited use of massive munitions and firepower by
coalition forces. And the media failed to highlight the
US's amazing use of technology to surgically destroy only
military targets and leave 98% of civilian targets intact.
And the media failed to highlight the amazingly low number of
civilian casualties and the still too high, but relatively low
number of coalition military deaths required to complete the
liberation of Iraq. |
| The
Iraqi people demonstrated that they are like all of us:
They are frail and can get scared when placed in a strange new
situation. In their case the strange situation is liberty
and the freedom to do what they want when they want to do it. |
| The
time has come for everyone to take responsibility. The
Iraqi people can now demonstrate how civilized they are by
controlling their looters and joining together beyond tribal
boundaries to build a new, free and prosperous Iraq. |
| The
United States and it genuine allies --- who are few
beyond the again great Britain --- must understand that today's world
is not controlled by gentlemen whose handshakes are their bond. It is filled with
many nations whose leaders follow polls of populaces who do not understand progress can
best be made through hard work, not through deceit and thievery. These so-called
leaders are often bent upon acquiring power the old fashioned way rather than through
building, educating and ensuring meaningful work to build productive societies. |
| That
is why the United States must implement the asymmetric policy
theorem, "Yesterday's friend may not be today's ally. We
must judge our friends based upon past performances, today's
actions and tomorrow's expectations." |
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By
Arnaud de Borchgrave
UPI Editor at Large
From the International Desk
Published 3/21/2003, 2:46 PM
"A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with
Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the [Jordanian] border today with 14 hours
of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a
young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had
shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told
me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see
their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced
me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and
Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me
ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could
hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head." |
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