-- The Left's Unceasing Criticism of the Overthrow of Saddam
By Paul Walfield
Many people from just about every political persuasion nowadays are clamoring for an explanation as to why no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq. After all, as Congressman Meeks noted on Fox's Hannity and Combs, on June 5, 2003, "it's been 72 days since the beginning of the war in Iraq." Bill O'Reilly is quick to add, "The Administration should be given a few more weeks" before being called upon to explain. Of course, he has been saying that, every show, every day, for a few weeks now.
It's a strange phenomenon. Torture chambers have been exposed, horror stories told, hundreds of thousands of unmarked graves of political detainees have been discovered, and 25 million Iraqis have been freed from a monster's grip. Yet some people think we have all been duped into an unnecessary war based on a lie.
At the war's outset, the most ardent critics of the war had been warning about thousands of casualties -- with some even claiming there would be millions. Yet, now after the war's completion, they all now claim: "America's victory was always expected" -- although they also insist, "America won the war, but lost the peace."
It's as if America's stunning military victory is meaningless, and the overthrow of a brutal dictator was pointless.
Of course, whatever reasons were given for going to war in Iraq by the Bush Administration were real. Weapons of mass destruction will be found, and the same people who decried the Administration's "lies" will simply move on to the next criticism. They have no scruples; so naturally, they have no accountability.
What is so interesting is the apparent compulsion by many critics to find "lies," or at the very least, misstatements, made by those in the Bush administration. It's almost pathological. And while it has been said many times, by many people, it bears repeating: Iraq is a relatively large country; it's as big as Germany. Finding weapons of mass destruction, even tons of them, is not very easy if the people who had them deliberately hid them.
So let's summarize again. Saddam Hussein is gone from power. People are no longer being dragged away in the middle of the night by his henchman to macabre prisons and torture chambers. Family members aren't being whisked away into the night, never to be seen again because Saddam was angry at some other member of their family. Young girls aren't being pulled out of class to satisfy Saddam's son Uday's sick perversions.
Terrorism has been dealt a serious blow, in that anti-Western terrorists no longer have a friend in Baghdad; and there is no longer any fear that they, the terrorists, will get their hands on chemical, biological or radiological weapons from the regime in Iraq. Not to mention that homicidal Middle East suicide bombers are also without additional funding from Baghdad.
Yet, many in the world, the U.S. included, feel cheated because a motive for the war has not been proven correct yet -- even if the war itself was and is ultimately justified.....