OT ... OT ... OT
>>> "just seen the greatest military victory in a century" <<<
Ed, when one puts things into proper perspective, it's easy to see where this war in Iraq can be called the greatest military victory in a century. I think one has to look at what the casualty predictions were prior to the war. I don't think anyone thought Iraq could win, but they did think we'd see lots of casualties, civilian and military. I think more Americans were lost in accidents than the Iraqi military killed.
I think of Hill 737 in the Aschau Valley, during the Viet Nam War, where the 101st obtained a 70% casualty rate and gained mere yards on a daily basis. Now that battle is what I would call heavy resistance, not what we have seen in Iraq, as the press is so quick to try and point out.
When you consider the ground taken, the objectives seized and the amount of time it took to do so, and then compare it to the loss of US and civilian lives, this was a great victory for us.
In looking forward, I'm not sure we'll justify our actions by how the Muslim world accepts us. I suppose it depends on what you thought the war was fought over. Terrorism and liberation, or the elimination of the undermining of our economic way of life?
The Muslim world is anti-American because after inventing the wheel and Algebra, the rest of the world grew up and left them behind. America is only 200 plus years old and is the wealthiest nation in the world. That in itself creates animosity. All we have to do is look at our own country for an example in the "class wars" that are constantly stirred by the Democratic party.
A lot of Muslim people come to this country for an education and when they go back home, what do they have? Nothing! They have no hope. They can't improve themselves or their families situation to the degree that we can, here in America. Take away a man's hope and you've taken away everything. This is why they don't have a problem finding suicide bombers. Their only hope is that there is a better world waiting for them in the afterlife.
We get the blame for a lot of that hopelessness, and justifiably so because, we have supported many of the Muslim leaders that have kept their countries in the Dark Ages. Most Muslim countries blame us for not supporting them and allowing them to improve. These feelings and thoughts of envy and hatred aren't going to go away with a victory in war, and they aren't going to go away within a generation either, in my opinion.
Did we do the right thing by attacking Iraq? It depends on what you think the objective was. We took out a leader that was leading the charge to undermine our economy. We know that Russia was supporting this effort, as was France and Germany. We now know that there were people on the inspection teams that were tipping off Sadamn on where they would be looking for weapons. We now know that Russia was attempting to jam missiles that were heading for Iraqi targets. We know that Russia and Germany were supplying weapons and nuclear technology to Iraq and other countries. We know that France was supplying the weapons grade plutonium.
What are we supposed to do?
We defeated Russia during the Cold War by destroying their economy. The world knows the only way to defeat us is by doing the same thing. Where would you draw the line in the sand? Where would you say, enough is enough? In my opinion, GWB took too long but, I understand why he did.
The world will never be one big happy family as long as the human emotions of greed and power exist. We are and have what most others aspire to. If they achieve the same "in addition" to us, then I have no problem. If you are going to achieve that status by "taking it away" from me, then I have a problem. This is what Iraq and the "Evil Axis" countries have in mind. They want to take it away from us. Rather than build themselves up, they want to take us down. Where do you stand up and say, "enough is enough?"
I think that time is now.
We now know that the appeasement of the Clinton years is coming back to bite us. Appeasement begets more appeasement, begets us getting our butts kicked. We may deserve a butt kicking but, that doesn't mean you stand by and let it happen, in my opinion.
I know my view of war isn't very popular but, in my opinion, it should be made horrible enough that others would think twice before considering it. Our victory to date has been a politically correct one, to a large degree. I don't think the results of this war will deter Russia, North Korea or anyone else to fear taking us on in their efforts to undermine our economy and way of life. But neither would appeasement.
dabum |
