This is a strange world.
People want to see and hear only what they want to. Iraq today is a
prime example. The division between the liberal leftists, who never
accepted the morality of this war and the rest of the world is
staggering. The liberals, who have been predicting only gloom and
doom throughout the course of this war, still see nothing positive
in this campaign. Even the liberation of a suppressed mass of people
from a hostile, murderous dictator and all the celebration on the
streets of Baghdad have not convinced them that this was a just war.
The hypocrisy of the French, Russians and the Syrians is evident in
their bizarre behavior in the post-Saddam Iraq. These three
countries had fought the U.S. every step of the way, in the
nineties, against imposing the sanctions on Saddam Hussein’s regime
for non-compliance. The argument then was that the Iraqi people
suffered enormously with any kind of sanctions, while the regime did
not. Now that the regime has toppled, these three countries are
preventing the lifting of the sanctions in the Security Council! Now
they want confirmation that Iraq does not possess weapons of mass
destruction that could threaten the world. The cynicism and
duplicity are laughable, especially since they think they can get
away with the betrayal.
Then we find out that the French, Russians and the Syrians, with the
blessing of the United Nations, were the main deliverers of the
so-called oil-for-food program. Sixty-seven billion dollar worth of
oil had been sold since 1996 and the U. N. managed to keep two
billion of the money for its own purposes. The auditing done is not
open to public scrutiny. The three countries made a handsome profit
in the bargain. The oil-for food program filled Saddam’s coffers and
no food ever reached the people. As long as these countries made
their profit, the United Nations turned a blind eye. In addition,
these three countries acted as Saddam’s facilitators for his illegal
trade of oil, thus corrupting the embargo imposed on Iraq.
Now the liberals do not want to see the happy Iraqi faces. All their
predictions have been wrong. A long protracted war, massive civilian
casualties, significant U.S. losses, an environmental disaster, and
danger to neighboring countries like Israel, Kuwait and Jordan have
not happened. Complaints about a bungled war plan, botched by the
defense department, fizzled out quickly. Instead, the war has gone
very well, even by a cynic’s standards. The success of the U.S. is
something the war protestors cannot stand. What is surprising is
that the liberals in the U.S. are in the same category as the people
of the Arab nations, around Iraq. The Arabs are fed images from the
likes of Al-Jazeera television showing the war in a negative mode.
That is all the Arabs are allowed to see and hear. But the liberals
in the U. S. have free media that is reporting the true reactions of
the Iraqi people. Yet, they ignore the fact that Iraqis are better
off today than under the dictator. One could see the glee and
jubilation of the liberals, when the Iraqis started looting in the
aftermath of the fall of Baghdad. They were quick to blame the U.S.
armed forces for not protecting the civilians and not acting as a
police force, while the Marines were still fighting sporadic
resistance from forces loyal to Saddam Hussein. Now that calm is
returning to Baghdad and normal life is returning, we do not hear
anything from these people any more.
Now that the people of Iraq are free, the true nature of the brutal
regime is out in the open for all to see. Gut-wrenching pictures of
Iraqis visiting gravesites, marked only with numbers, without names,
digging and unearthing the skeletal remains of their family members,
are emerging. The inefficient regime of Saddam Hussein seems to have
been very efficient in keeping count of the people they had killed.
A master list of more than thousand names of the deceased, and the
matching numbers on the graves, was found in one of the government
building abandoned by the fleeing government officials. Now the
tearful relatives are looking for the bodies of their loved ones in
the graves, matching the names with the numbers. At least the Iraqis
knew that the American invasion was the only means of supplanting
the despot and no embargo (or appeasement) could achieve the same
result. But the liberals and leftists refuse to act to end the
horror of Saddam’s regime.
The Democrats are mad. They are mad because liberation of Iraq has
gone without a hitch. They are also worried that President Bush has
nearly 70% approval rating among Americans. This bodes them ill in
the next election, which is only about eighteen months away. They
desperately are hoping now that the economy tanks further, causing
more suffering among Americans. This could give them some fodder for
the election next year. They will delay passage of the tax cut
package as long as possible because they do not want to hand another
victory to the president in the domestic front. Yet, they do not
have a solution other than being critical of whatever the president
proposes. They have become a reactive party rather than pro-active
one.
The administration was careful in not painting a rosy scenario in
post-Saddam Iraq. Winning the peace was going to be more difficult
than winning the war, they have repeatedly said. The recent
Iran-inspired demonstration by Shiites in Southern Iraq brought
another wave of glee to ‘see I told you so’ liberals. Though only
about ten thousand sword waving Shiites, demonstrated their
unpleasantness towards Americans as the occupying force, the event
was billed as the beginning of the end.
The liberals have another mantra that they keep repeating now. Where
are the weapons of mass destruction? The administration is confident
that they will be found in due course. They did not expect to find
them easily as these are mobile units and hidden very well by the
crafty Saddam Hussein. The mobile units could even be transferred to
a neighboring country, like Syria.
We cannot forget the fact that
when the inspectors left Iraq in the year 1998, they knew Saddam had
stockpiles of VX gas, Sarin, Mustard gas, Anthrax as well as botulin
toxin. He did not account for it when he was forced to declare his weapons
by the Security Council resolution 1441, last December. Where are these
weapons? The inspectors could not find them with their pace and style of
inspections. It will take a lot more diligent and concerted effort to find
them.
I have a question for the
skeptics and doubters (the European socialists and American liberals).
When the Iraqi soldiers abandoned their posts in several cities, as the
U.S. and British forces were advancing, many chemical-suits and gas masks
as well as antidote vials were found. If Saddam Hussein did not have
chemical weapons, why were the Iraqi soldiers armed with protective suits
and antidotes?
Readers' Comments
Thank God for the Worried Mad Democrats (WMD) and the American
liberals. They are the only hope for the rest of the world!! it is hard
to fathom that justifications can actually be offered for the merciless
bombings and killings of the Iraqi people by the latest US weaponry. The
US government did not even care to shed their customary crocodile tears
over the "collateral damage" that they inflicted. Tortures and killings
by the Saddam regime did not justify some more tortures and killings by
the GI Joes! The country could have been disarmed peacefully after lifting
UN sanctions to free the people. If Saddam was the tyrant that America
says he is, why did they arm him and use him in the war against Iran? Why
was Osama used by the Americans to fight the USSR? Can those who defend
the rights of the US administration answer these questions and plenty more
about America's double standards (Israel and Pakistan being just one of
the many adopted by Uncle Sam). America's juggernaut-like actions are
going to lead to belligerent reactions like those that have recently
emanated from North Korea. Where will it all end up... with the whole
world going up in smoke? Come on guys, wake up, take off your blinkers
and join the liberals! The more the merrier. Help to ensure a (peaceful)
world for future generations. It is the least that we can do!
– Melaine Kumar, April 27, 2003
Reminds me of a man who picked
up two little fuzzy animals, fed them and nurtured them to health. When
they grew to be full-sized monsters, they not only demanded flesh and
blood, they also started gnawing at the owner's hands that had fed them so
far. The owner now had a dilemma as to what to do with these creatures.
Should he keep feeding them or should he kill them? Wisely, America has
taken the latter track and both Usama bin Laden and the butcher of Baghdad
are on the run, if not already dead. It is naive to think that Saddam
Hussein would have had a change of heart if the sanctions on Iraq had been
lifted earlier. When it comes to totalitarian regimes, it is not a perfect
world, which can be won over with love and patience. This much has been
proved repeatedly in history. If good men ignore evil, evil will certainly
triumph. It is sad to see liberals (and some intellectuals) still cannot
accept the fact that people of Iraq are better off now than under the
regime of Saddam. It is also unfathomable that the same intellectuals,
whilst quick on criticizing America for its actions, haven't yet called
Saddam the true brute that he was. Those who call America's actions
immoral seem to be tongue-tied when it comes to the immorality of Saddam
and his goons. In the end totalitarianism, Nazism, communism and
fundamentalism will fail. Righteousness, freedom and truth will prevail.
Being passive (inaction), with the head buried in the sand, will only
embolden the dictators into unfettered brutality. Naiveté may be inborn,
but ignorance is correctible.
– Neria Harish Hebbar, MD, May 11, 2003
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WMD
This is a strange world.
People want to see and hear only what they want to. Iraq today is a
prime example. The division between the liberal leftists, who never
accepted the morality of this war and the rest of the world is
staggering. The liberals, who have been predicting only gloom and
doom throughout the course of this war, still see nothing positive
in this campaign. Even the liberation of a suppressed mass of people
from a hostile, murderous dictator and all the celebration on the
streets of Baghdad have not convinced them that this was a just war.