Waking up in a new world: Conclusion!!!

Editor's note: This is it, the capstone to the author's history lesson and justification in his mind for the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. I will not distract readers with many links. Enjoy!
P.S. Check this article for the initial laying of the foundation. And forgive my lame building analogies.

A couple of weeks ago, my editor and myself were having a heated debate on what lead America to its showdown with Saddam Hussein. He suggested that I take up the issue for a blog entry. I originally assumed it would be at most, perhaps, three parts. As I began writing, it quickly became apparent three essays would not be sufficient for all the aspects I thought important in order to fully present my point of view. I then estimated eight parts. Here today is the conclusion, part ten.

What I've attempted to do is to put down the facts as best I remember them. From the first Gulf War in 1991 to the invasion in 2003, to the continued occupation. Little did I realize my meanderings would take me back as far as 570 AD. Since 9/11, I have learned much about Islam, the Middle East and America's uneasy relationship with the region. I've included much of it here.

What I've also tried to accomplish is to present as many facts as possible. Facts that were once common knowledge and today are in question. I firmly believe that academically honest people, of differing political persuasions, can have an honest debate in the arena of free ideas on the history and the future of America and Iraq. But that debate can only take place when the facts are clearly presented. There is no academic honesty in a debate if one side insists facts are fiction.

I hope readers have felt their time well spent reading these essays. And I would like to thank my editor for both prodding me to write, as well as for his efforts at editing and posting. I must admit, some of his links (I email the editor flat text, he formats, links, and adds smart ass remarks) have irked me more than I care to admit. But that is what honest debate is all about. Facts, whether you like them or not, are facts. And we should never forget that.

The Second Iraq War

In the previous nine essays, I've covered a myriad of points. Saddam himself, his brutality, his WMDs - and proven willingness to use them. I've also covered some of the history of Islam, as I've learned about it, and Wabahism in particular. I spent a particularly uncomfortable afternoon spilling my thoughts on terrorism and war. But what does all that mean with respect to the American invasion and occupation of Iraq?

What it has to do with the Iraq war, is to point out the complete and utter lack of stability in not only the Middle East, but of the entire Muslim world. The world of Islam is huge. It stretches from Morocco to Malaysia, from Kosovo to Mozambique. Its a vast civilization of people from many differing back grounds, and many different ethnicities. They do have one thing in common, they are Muslim and the rest of the world is not.

Islam has been at war with itself, and western society for over a thousand years. In 1803 the Muslim pirates of Tripoli began seizing the ships of the newly minted United States of America, and selling the sailors into slavery. President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter demanding they cease and desist, and recognize America's right to the use high seas. The pirates replied that not only was it their right, it was their duty under Islamic law to fight the infidel where ever encountered. Thomas Jefferson responded by creating the US Marines. "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli."

We have been at war with these people, just as most of the western world has, for all that time. In the year 711 AD, Muslims conquered a large part of Spain. As a matter of fact, that's one of bin Looser's demands, that western society return it to the Muslims. Muslims nearly reached the gates of Vienna in 1683. You can thank Polish King Jan Sobieski for saving Europe back then. For most of the west, it was not even worth noticing. The only people concerned should the ones stupid enough to enter their part of the world, for that was their decision. The Muslims, with their limited resources, and ancient weapons, had no chance of dragging us into anything. That has changed.

For most of history, large scale invasions were not that difficult to notice. Massing of troops and ships. You could see them coming. You had time to prepare, at least to some extent. With the marriage of Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, there is no notice. There is no prevention, only reaction. It is a war on their terms, fought when they decide, where they decide, and the type of battle is entirely of their choosing. I recently read an article, analyzing the effects of a relatively small nuclear device detonating in down town Manhattan. The results aren't pretty. 1,600,000 Dead and dying Americans, and arguably America's most important city, a radioactive waste land. The study suggests so many wounded, there would be not be enough emergency service members alive to help them. They would lie in the streets by the hundreds of thousands, praying in agony for death to take them. This is no science fiction movie or novel.

When I was a kid, we used to perform air raid drills at school. We'd grab our coats, file into the hall way, lean towards the wall, cover our heads with our arms, and wait out nuclear Armageddon. That was just pure foolishness. I watched the World Trade Centers fall on TV. This is real. Its as real as New York City, Washington DC, Madrid, London, Moscow, Bali, Paris, Baghdad, Amman and thousands of other cities around the world were this war rages in the streets.

Islamic fundamentalism plus weapons of mass destruction, plus the ease of world travel thanks to globalism, equal the very real possibility of the destruction of America. New York City is the financial capitol of the world. Its mind boggling to even try to conceive the effects on the global world economy should it suddenly cease to exist. The world would be thrown into an economic recession from which it might never recover.

But then again, that's the terrorist agenda. They don't want to see a thriving western society. They want to see death and destruction. That way its easier for them to plunge those left alive into slavish nightmare of what they call paradise. They make the rules, we obey or die. And they get to watch, all snug and comfortable in their piety, that they are the hand of God.

What once would have required the largest armed forces in the world, can now be accomplished by a relatively small group of dedicated men. And make no mistake they are dedicated. One would have to be in order to think it an act worthy of God, to kill children gathering to receive candy.

But again, what does that have to do with Saddam, Iraq and America?

As I've noted in previous essays, I believe there are as many reasons for terrorists, as there are terrorists. But I believe the primary reason is lack of hope. Total despair. The inability to even dream of a better life. And one sure way to create that despair is the relentless and never ending oppression of the people of the Muslim world. And that's what the world of Islam is. Crushed under repression, beaten down, driven into the mud and the blood, from which they see no exit. Stir in some religion, promising a better world in the afterlife, arm them with a vial so small it could fit in a pen, and turn them loose on a society which they despise. I hope that scares you, because it scares the hell out of me. It's not fiction. Its fact. That is the reality of today's world.

In 1991 Bush the Coward went into Iraq, for what I now consider dubious reasons. Dubious because of what he claimed he wanted to accomplish, as opposed to the reality of Iraq on the eve of the second Gulf War, are worlds apart. Bush the Coward used the US military to drive Saddam out of Kuwait. But he did not plan, did not foresee, did not worry about the results of his actions. And those results were catastrophic. Bush the Coward and his allies broke Iraq, wrapped it in duct tape, and left it for the pathetic United Nations to worry about.

Consider that for a moment. As if life in Iraq under Saddam, wasn't bad enough, the United States and the UN made it even worse. First the Coward's attempts to encourage the Iraqi's to rebel in 1991, where he promptly fed them to the dogs. Estimates of 300,000 dead Shiites and Kurds. Is it any wonder the US is having such a hard time during the current occupation? Would you trust a nation that suggested you rise up, only to find your entire family and town wiped off the face of the earth? I would find the opportunity for payback very tempting.

The Vatican estimated 50,000 dead Iraqis every year from the UN sanctions alone. Think about that number. Not only did America turn its back on the Iraqi people in their hour of greatest need, now the entire world was set to crush them in the vice of sanctions. Not that Saddam would be all that inconvenienced. He still had his WMDs, his army and his billions. But to the common Iraqi citizen, nothing but despair. Complete and total despair. And at our hands, no less.

Following 9/11, many Americans finally realized we are, in fact, at war with Islamic fundamentalists We realized just how vulnerable we truly are. We realized just how easy it is for them to murder thousands with out even using WMDs, just simple box cutters. We also realized just how truly dangerous Saddam was, with his WMDs. Its not outrageous to believe Saddam would be more than willing to deal with anyone necessary in order to exact his revenge on America, after all the United States humiliated him before the entire world. That was the main cause for the invasion. Americans, in 2002 and early 2003 agreed not to wait for him to link up with bin Looser or any terrorist groups for that matter. The threat needed to be dealt with before the attack occurred.

Many words have been spoken detailing the case for pre-emptive war. The second Iraq war was not for pre-emption, it was a preventive war, waged to prevent an even larger war. Some time in the 1930's, Adolf Hitler decided to break the treaty of Versailles and remilitarize the Rhineland, Germany's industrial heart land. At the time, France had an army 60 miles away that out numbered the Germans some 30 to one. Had France acted in a timely manor, perhaps the entire European theater of World War II might have been avoided. Millions of lives saved, many millions more, left unscarred by the horrors of war. What if? What might have been? What could have been? Who knows.

I believe the second Gulf War is justified because we need to fix what Bush the Coward and America did in 1991. We broke Iraq, and refused to fix it. The world is far too dangerous today to have a nation of 25 million people languishing as Iraq was. And if we do not, now, finish what we started in 1991, then America will be back in Iraq in the future, assuming America is still around.

A nation should never enter into war lightly. People's lives are at stake. But, if a nation decides that war is necessary, then it must be fought to its conclusion. Half efforts are only leaving the nightmare to another generation. And that's what America did in 1991. We left the open wounds to fester and boil. We should never have done that. Today, American soldiers are paying the price for that short sighted endeavor.

I pray to God that we have the courage to see it through, to rebuild what we have destroyed. I fear its the only chance the Muslim world and western society have left. Ignore the problem, and we will all suffer greatly. Do what we must to solve our own misdeeds, and maybe, just maybe, both the Muslim world and America have a chance for a future.

Editor's note: This was a labour of love for the author, and I certainly didn't pay him for this work. If you enjoyed - or hated - the series, please leave a comment.