Message to the World: Afghanistan was Personal; Iraq was Business

GOPUSA ^ | May 5, 2003 | Bobby Eberle

[Columbine]

Prior to the beginning of the war with Iraq, there were many reasons tossed about by the anti-war crowd as to President Bush's "real" intentions. Some said he was trying for an imperialistic power grab. Others said he was doing it for oil. Another common reason was that it was personal -- that George W. Bush was getting revenge on Saddam Hussein for the first Gulf War and for trying to assassinate his father, President George H. W. Bush. All one needs to do is study the words for Bush's speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln to see that Iraq was not personal. In fact, if anything, Afghanistan was personal. But, in the war on terror, Iraq was strictly business.

On September 11, 2001, war was declared on America. It wasn't a war in the conventional sense. There were no tanks, no divisions, no brigades opening fire on America. There were no declarations or demands. Instead, under a veil of secrecy, America's innocence was taken away and the reality of terrorism was brought to our shores like nothing else before it.

In response to the terrorist attacks, President Bush declared war. The Taliban of Afghanistan were the first to fall. However, that battle is not the one which should cause other terrorist states to lose sleep. Afghanistan was personal. America was directly attacked. Thousands of American lives were lost. And America, feeling unprecedented grief and sorrow went looking for payback. We found the responsible network and the government supporting them, and America took them out. The personal payback was done.

[Grampa Dave]

Excellent article and a good read! Thanks for posting it.

[Grampa Dave]

An excellent article that you might want to read.

[TheBigB]

And North Korea will be pure pleasure. :)

[Dog]

Excellent read........thanks!

[Grampa Dave]

It was an excellent read and not one that browbeat or insulted you as plowed pages of stuff. It was short and well written.

[david_g17]

well worded. goes straight to the point. good article.

[AmericaUnited]

And North Korea will be pure pleasure. :)

A most excellent followup!

[xkaydet65]

My uncle fought with 1st Cav in Korea. He never mentioned anything about fighting the NKs being a pleasure. Writer and former USMC platoon leader James Brady has some pretty interesting opinions about the US returning to fight the NKs. Those opinions are also anything but pleasant, as are Brady's reminiscences in The Coldest War.