Ignoring history in Iraq

I've been reading the various points of view regarding the war in Iraq. I am amazed at the extent to which some people are willing to completely ignore history, both recent and ancient, in order to fit their beliefs into those spewed forth by the mainstream media. Well, I suppose it's true: "If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything."

Where to begin the debunking ... how about from the beginning?

"Iraq, the oldest civilization in the world ..." Did you ever notice that no one calls it the oldest NATION in the world? That's probably be-cause it has only existed as a nation since 1932, when its borders and form of government (a monarchy) were created by the British. The region of the Middle East known as Iraq has, over the centuries, had more governments than the average banana republic.

No, Virginia, all was not peaceful in Iraq before the big, bad Americans came to town. They are no stranger to the conqueror, having previously hosted such notables as the Ottomans, the Persians, the British (of course), and even the Mongols of Genghis Khan.

"President Bush lied to justify the war." The three justifications for removing Saddam Hussein from power were weapons of mass destruction, ties to terrorism, and tyranny. Iraq certainly possessed WMD in 1991. They agreed to inspection and disarmament. They subsequently played a 12-year-long shell game with UN inspectors, and claimed to have destroyed all their WMD.

What's a shell game without a pea? It's a con, pure and simple. And so was Iraq's self-proclaimed disarmament. Here's a rhetorical question for people who like that sort of thing: What might have been in all of those trucks that were hauling goods non-stop from Iraq into Syria for MONTHS prior to the invasion of Iraq, while the U.S. continued to attempt futilely to gain UN support?

Terrorism -- more (not-so) rhetorical questions: Did Saddam Hussein publicly boast of paying up to $20,000 each to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers? Did Abu Nidal and the "mastermind" of the Achille Lauro hijacking live openly in Baghdad for years?

Did the Iraqi intelligence services get caught attempting to assassinate former US President George H.W. Bush in Kuwait? Did the Iraqis operate a terrorist training facility at Salman Pak, complete with a commercial airliner fuselage to train hijackers?

Tyranny -- yet more (not-so) rhetorical questions: Did Saddam Hussein's regime use chemical weapons against the Kurds? Did Saddam's regime routinely abduct, torture, rape and execute its own citizens?

Were large mass graves discovered by coalition forces following the invasion? Were some of the skeletons found still bound and blindfolded? Was the prison at Abu Ghraib already notorious (though not nearly as well-publicized) PRIOR to the "Iraqi POW abuse scandal"?

Let's explore some other myths and mischaracterizations. "Another Vietnam ..." The Vietnam War lasted for 10 years, and resulted in the deaths of more than 58,000 American soldiers. That's an average of about 16 a day. Iraq has been averaging one eighth of that.

How long did it take to gain control of Hanoi? How long did it take to capture Ho Chi Minh after we forced him into hiding?

What? Those things never happened? Perhaps the two conflicts aren't at all alike. Thanks for playing, please try again.

How can we justify occupying Iraq for this long, and what makes us think we can impose democracy on Iraq? Refer to the period immediately following World War II, when we "imposed" democracy on Germany and Japan after usurping their dictators.

We occupied Japan for 10 years. In a sense, we "occupied" Germany throughout the Cold War. Germany did not have a freely elected, independent government of its own until 1949. In 1989/1990, we "imposed" democracy on Panama.

Well, I suppose that's not exactly true -- they already had a democratically elected President, Guillermo Endara. The United States just removed the tyrant, Manuel Noriega, who prevented Endara from ruling. American forces remained in Panama until 1999. I was part of that "occupation" in 1990, and never had a clue as to just how unpopular I was until I read about it in Newsweek magazine. I guess all the waves, handshakes and hugs were just figments of my imagination ...

How would we react to an invasion? Well, I'm certain that a sufficient portion of the American people would take up arms against the invader. We'd haul out our sporting firearms ( with an ammunition capacity of no more than 10 rounds, of course, because you don't need an Uzi to go duck hunting) and we would take the fight to the invading army. But, somehow, I just can't see us blowing up our own police stations, assassinating our own mayors and governors, or decapitating the cable guy ...

Speaking of decapitation, I thought Saddam's regime used hanging and firing squads almost exclusively as a means of execution. If Iraq has "always used decapitation as the primary means of ultimate punishment," I suppose this must refer to those 5000 years BEFORE they became a nation in 1932 ...

Here's what I believe: Saddam Hussein had to go. He was a mentally unbalanced tyrant with a thirst for regional conquest, and a total disregard for the welfare of his own people. The Middle East is in desperate need of a Muslim democracy.

Islamic extremists will stop at nothing to prevent such a democracy from forming, because its success would sound the death knell for their shenanigans. George W. Bush is a much-maligned President who has the intelligence necessary to see what must be done, and the moral courage to do it. I believe THAT is a combination of leadership traits unseen in this nation since Ronald Reagan.

An error in judgment? I think not. And, I believe that the answer will be even clearer ten years from now. Behold the examples already mentioned: Germany, Japan and Panama. We stayed the course there, and we should stay the course in Iraq. Withdrawing our troops prematurely is the only way to ensure "another Vietnam," where our soldiers would have died in vain, betrayed by their politicians and their people.

-- Owen J. McPhillips is a veteran of Desert Storm and Panama and is a McCook police officer.