A Matter of National Security

by Angie Many

   The Democrats are charging that since Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) have not been found in Iraq, President Bush, who made that charge part of his justification, was wrong to send our forces into Iraq. They conveniently forget that for years, they have been making public statements about the dangers that the WMDs possessed by Saddam Hussein pose to the world.

   There is little doubt that Saddam had WMDs. Laboratories and papers that document such WMDs have been discovered It is known that he used chemical agents against his own citizens. But because of the United Nations’s ineffective bumbling for years, he had plenty of time to ship WMDs out of the country (the most likely destinations were Syria and Lebanon) or to bury them in the sands of Iraq.

   As The Federalist (www.federalist.com) noted, the difficulty in finding Saddam underscores the difficulty in discovering his WMD stores. The once-mighty dictator was hiding in a hole in the ground, receiving basic necessities from a few supporters. WMDs could be doing the same, and since they don’t require visits for maintenance, attention would not be drawn to those locations. In addition, noted The Federalist, it has been surmised that Saddam had the teams who buried the WMDs executed, thus reducing the number of people who know the locations.

   It is unfortunate that stores of WMDs have not yet been discovered. Even if they were never an issue, however, the removal of Saddam Hussein had made the world -- and especially Iraq -- a much safer place. The stories of mass murder and horrific torture are still coming out of Iraq, and the failure of the major media to adequately cover such stories blatantly exposes its anti-Bush agenda.

   Yes, our soldiers are still being killed in Iraq, and each death is a tragedy. But their deaths illustrate that terrorists are making Iraq into a battleground against the U.S. They must be eliminated to reduce the threat they pose to peace and freedom, and it is much better to eliminate them in the Middle East before they undertake more actions in our country.

   It is due to this Administration’s actions against terrorists, and to the heightened security measures taken in this country, that we have not seen further bombings here in the U.S. It is to be expected that terrorists will attempt major actions before the November elections, as they enacted in Spain, to try to influence the U.S. elections and defeat President Bush. They know that Senator Kerry would not show the strength, resolve, and purpose that Bush has exhibited.

   News reports have recently announced that there is some evidence of attacks planned on our train system. It is unrealistic to expect that our intelligence and police forces can thwart every attempt. The country is too big, terrorists use dedicated people in ‘small-cell’ groups that are difficult to penetrate, and their communication alternatives are many and varied. One of the best defenses that we have is increased vigilance by all citizens. And our best response -- which is also the best way to deter future attacks -- is to retaliate and to illustrate our permanent determination to use military strength to remove all who conduct or sponsor terrorism.

   President Bush has done just that. The War on Terrorism should be the overriding concern of this nation at this time. While I disagree with many of Bush’s domestic policies, Kerry would put the United Nations and the appeasement proponents in charge of our national security. Please remember how important it is to vote in the November election. Show up, and take all of your friends and family!   

“Saddam Hussein was a weapon of mass destruction.”

Senator Joe Lieberman

Our Next President?

   “I’m an internationalist. I’d like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations.”

Massachusetts congressional candidate John Kerry in a 1970 interview with the Harvard Crimson, expressing his desire for a Soviet veto of American foreign policy.

Cold, Methodical Killers

   “(Saddam’s) killers kept bankers’ hours. They showed up for work at the barley field at 9 a.m., trailed by backhoes and three buses filled with blindfolded men, women and children as young as 1. Every day, witnesses say, the routine was the same: The backhoes dug a trench. About 50 people were led to the edge of the hole and shot, one by one, in the head. The backhoes covered them with dirt, then dug another hole for the next group. At 5 p.m., the killers - members of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party - went home to rest up for another day of slaughter.”

(Source: Associated Press, 12/7/03; found at www.chuckmuth.com)

Eliminating the Threat

   The President further affirmed, “America, and the entire civilized world, will face this threat for decades to come. We must confront the danger with open eyes, and unbending purpose. I have made clear to all the policy of this nation: America will not permit terrorists and dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most deadly weapons... There is a consensus among nations that proliferation cannot be tolerated. Yet, this consensus means little unless it is translated into action.”

(Source: www.federalist.com, 3-14-04)

By Air and By Sea

   Ominously, Britain’s MI-6 is investigating a new report that al-Qa’ida may have acquired tactical nuclear capabilities from Ukrainian scientists in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1998. Meanwhile, a classified New Scotland Yard memo warns that in the last five years, al-Qa’ida has purchased as many as 17 sea-worthy vessels of varying sizes from a Greek shipping concern. Those vessels could be used to attack a major port with a radiological or nuclear device. The vessels are suspected of sailing under flags of Yemen, Somalia, Senegal, Liberia and the Caribbean island of St. Vincent.

(Source: www.federalist.com 3-14-04)

Not So Tough Without His Troops

   Saddam, who has always ordered his loyalists to fight to the death, did not draw the pistol in his possession when confronted by American troops, opting instead to tell them, “My name is Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate.” ...In the end, Saddam, like all such tyrants, proved to be nothing more than a coward.

(Source: www.federalist.com)

Discouragement

   “The troops returning home are worried. ‘We’ve lost the peace,’ men tell you. ‘We can’t make it stick’... Friend and foe alike, look you accusingly in the face and tell you how bitterly they are disappointed in you as an American... Never has American prestige in Europe been lower... Instead of coming in with a bold plan of relief and reconstruction we came in full of evasions and apologies... A great many Europeans feel that the cure has been worse than the disease. The taste of victory had gone sour in the mouth of every thoughtful American I met.”

(Source: Life Magazine article by John Dos Passos, January 7, 1946; found at Best of the Web)

   (Yes, this was published in 1946, at the end of World War II! Post-war periods are almost always chaotic. Once the urgency, fear, and tension caused by war have dissipated, people often seem directionless. They have a hard time dealing with reduction of high emotion and with changed and changing conditions. And those who win have to deal with unpredictable conditions and populaces. But Europe made it through the post-war period, and Iraq can too, with help. It’s difficult to believe that Europeans really complained that “the cure has been worse than the disease” when the ‘disease’ was Hitler. But if they did, well, that’s another reason not to turn our national security over to other countries through the U.N. -Ed.)