tackleberry said:
Yeah, I would call terrorist acts every day in Iraq "more secure." And the fact that more people in that regioun are expressing hatred towards the United States, which is gonna help produce future terrorist cells. And saying that his military was destroyed is an overstatement. I guess it's the ghosts of the supposed "destroyed" military that are comitting these acts of violence every day. And I guess your views of the area are much "wider" than mine in saying that we liberated them from mass murder. 500 American Soldiers dying for a false cause: Is that not mass murder? 5000 US soldiers wounded for life: Is that not mass murder? 200 innocent Spanish dying: Is that not mass murder? Not to mention the thosands of other civilians murdered: IS THAT not mass murder?
Violence does not expel violence.
The American public was under the impression that we went into Iraq, ignored the UN, because Saddam posed an "imminent" threat to the United States because of the fear of giving WMD to Terrorists. NOT because we wanted to liberate the people. That became the cause AFTER the evidence of WMD's was not found, or much sparse than thought. So to sit there and raise your little glass to a democracy that isn't there yet, and is not welcomed in the region by a vast majority is just as arrogant as GW Bush landing on an aircraft carrier and declaring the "mission accomplished"
The region is far more secure today from Saddam's military and other capabilities that had invaded and attacked four different countries in the past 20 years. A majority of the planets energy supply, vital the global economy, is in the Persian Gulf, and this is far more secure today now that Saddam is removed.
In addition, multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions of been enforced with the removal of Saddam. Hundreds of items related to the production and storing of WMD have been siezed and Saddam's regime and military destroyed.
Yes there are Saddam loyalist out there making attacks, but they have ZERO capability to invade and take over countries like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey etc. They also have very little if any capability to cause damage in those countries. Their capabilities remained limited primarily to the Sunni Triangle West and North of Baghdad.
The US military continues to capture and kill many of these terrorist and Saddam Loyalist. More importantly, thousands of Iraqi police and Security forces have now been trained. In the coming months and years, Iraq will have a police and security force well over 300,000 in numbers. This will greatly help in reducing the terrorist attacks by Saddam loyalist and others. But these things take time, patience and hard work.
When I speak of Mass murder, I'm talking about the 1.7 million people that Saddam killed when he was in power. I'm also talking about his capabilities in conducting mass murder, the ability to sieze and disrupt the planets main energy sources there by ruining the global economy. This is what the Iraqi people and the rest of the world have been freed from with Saddam's removal.
A note on the American and coalitions losses. As of today, 392 US Military personal have been killed by hostile fire. 2,900 US Military personal have been wounded from hostile fire. The wounded figure includes all types of wounds, serious and those requiring no hospitalization at all. Soldiers cut by flying glass and whom returned to duty within an hour are included in that figure.
The casaulties while sad and terrible are not an example of a successful carrying out of mass murder by terrorist, although the Spanish case could be considered that. In fighting terrorism and other threats to security, there are going to be losses. These losses only show that efforts need to continue in combating remanents of Saddam's regime and Al Quada.
The use of Military force is necessary to combat and defeat dicators like Saddam and terrorist like Al Quada. Pacifism and handing out flowers will not stop Al Quada or any of these other terrorist.
The United States never ignored the United Nations. In fact it got another resolution calling on Saddam to verifiably disarm of all WMD or face the use of military force. This United Nations resolution was resolution 1441 and was passed in November of 2002. Saddam refused to verifiably disarm and member states of the United Nations to include the USA and others took military action in 2003 to enforce the United Nations resolution 1441.
The reason Saddam was required to verifiably disarm of all WMD was because of his mass use of such materials in killing people and his unprovoked invasions and attacks on four neighboring countries. The 1991 Gulf War Ceacefire required that Saddam verifiably disarm of all WMD or face military force to disarm him and authorized in resolution 678.
The United States along with other member states of the United Nations enforced multiple Security Council resolutions with the removal of Saddam from power. While actual WMD that Saddam failed to account for has yet to be found, inspectors have found over 300 items that were in direct violation of 1441 involved in the production and the stroring of WMD. The administrations case rock solid because it was based on the enforcement of UN resolutions that Saddam had failed to comply with which authorized military action to be taken.
The new scientific poll done of Iraqi citizens shows that the majority of Iraqi citizens support the coalition invasion to remove Saddam from power last year. The majority also say that their lives are better now than before the war.
Democracy takes time to develop. But there are already many victories on the road to that democracy. The region and the world are safer today with the removal of Saddam than they have been in decades. Building a new democracy in Iraq will have incaculable benefits for the entire region and the world. The region and world are more secure because of the removal of Saddam and 25 million people have the opportunity to develop the first true democracy in the Persian Gulf region.
Indeed, I will definitely drink to that.
