Back To All The News Fit To Eat: We Are Nuts, Remember?

We’re not completely backing off of Miers. She’ll have her hearings, and will likely be confirmed. But this is a blog site that focuses on politics, law, and current events. What event could trump more needless grumblings over Harriet Miers? I’d like to suggest that we look back across the pond to the "miracle" occurring in Iraq. They have voted on their first ever Constitution, and it looks like it will be passed by a resounding majority.

And I’d like to take a trip back down memory lane on Iraq. See, the Left, the anti-war nuts and zealots (including Mother Sheehan), and the fifth-column America haters couldn’t stop the historic events unfolding in the Middle East over the last four years. Yes, this nation went to war against an evil that we had tried hard to just ignore. At least that’s what the powers-that-be tried. On 11 September, there was no ignoring this enemy any longer. And we took the fight to them.

We ran them to ground, and met them head-on in the country they had not only had sanctuary in, but free reign to terrorize the populace. When we finished with them in Afghanistan we focused our attention on one of the more notorious regimes in the Middle East, and one that we had PROOF of their affiliation with terrorist groups. That country was Iraq. And I’ve heard all the arguments against this phase of the war on terror.

That’s right, I said "phase." Iraq is as much a phase in the GWOT as the landing on Normandy was a phase of World War II, or the battle for Iwo Jima and Tarawa. The Left can’t grasp that concept. Wars have phases. Just because the site of the battle changes doesn’t make it a new war. World War II was a global war. We didn’t refer to it as the "war in Germany" or the "war in Italy." It was World War II. They prefer to spin this war, and try to make it separate from the overall war. I hate to break this news to the MSM, but war doesn’t work that way.

We decimated the ability for our enemy to strike at us. We broke up cells. Killed or took into custody as many terrorist leaders as possible, and made many a nation in the Middle East reconsider any ties they may have to terrorists. Look at Libya, and their surrender of WMDs and WMD specs and materials. Look at how quickly Saudi Arabia dealt with the al-Qaeda cell in their nation that was causing problems. Jordan nailed the al-Qaeda team–a team of over 20 operatives–that was trying to smuggle a chemical bomb into their country.

And now, after years of living under the subjugation of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqis are free. They have held two solid elections (with a greater turnout to vote than the US in their last five presidential elections), and then this weekend, they voted on their first ever Constitution. There was little violence committed during the time of voting. Insurgents went after five polling places, and injured seven civilians. US forces and Iraqi forces immediately established tighter security around those polling places, as well as keeping a tight lock on the borders.

And with a duly-elected government in place, abiding by it’s approved Constitution, Iraq can finally begin to stand on it’s own. Amazing, isn’t it? It took this nation over five years to come up with a Constitution AFTER we won our independence, and Iraq has done it in far less time. There is freedom for all in that nation now. And not just individual freedoms–the sort we end up taking for granted–but also the freedom to practice any religion they choose to, the freedom to own their own firearms to protect themselves, etc.

Yet there are still detractors. There are those that complain that our troops are still over there, and will likely remain there permanently. Um, highly unlikely as the Iraqi security forces continue to grow. As was pointed out by Gen. Myers recently, US forces are now outnumbered in combat operations by their Iraqi brethren. We’re barely involved in security, and we do lend a hand in actual combat, but the Iraqis are handling the bulk of the work; this is as it must be. They must be able to stand on their own before we depart. Without that guarantee, the country would fall into civil war, and terrorists from Syria and Iran would pour over the border. The people would be left to the slaughter.

We don’t do things halfway. We go all the way, or we don’t go at all. Napoleon said, "When you set out to take Vienna, then take Vienna." Machiavelli warned future rulers that if they desire peace then they should prepare for war. Sun-Tzu counseled that "Victory is the main objective in war." We have done that. We have succeeded, and in doing so we took away one more sanctuary from our enemy. The war, however, is far from over. Al-Qaeda is gathering it’s forces in North Africa, and al-Zarqawi has started recruiting in Great Britain, as reported by Times Online UK today.

THE head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq has established a new terror network in Britain which is recruiting young Muslim fanatics to fight coalition troops.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has recently set up the group to recruit and train would-be suicide bombers and gunmen, counter-terrorism officials have said.

The new group, Ansar al-Fath — Partisans of Victory — is an offshoot of Ansar al-Islam, an organisation that is to be banned under new anti-terror rules announced by Charles Clarke, the home secretary, last week.

Ansar al-Fath provides logistical support to foreign fighters in Iraq and uses the internet to find new recruits for Zarqawi.

"The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true."

The above quote comes from the Fellowship of the Ring–the wonderfully successful and endearing first chapter of JRR Tolkien’s "Lord of the Rings" epic. In my opinion, it correctly defines our mission. We are standing on an edge. Appeasement and retreat would be the best way to fail in this quest, and it would ultimately invite disaster the likes of which this nation has never endured. We thought 11 September was bad. How bad would it be if our enemy got their grubby hands on a nuclear weapon, or a working biological weapon? Can those on the Left explain that answer to me? Michael Moore? Cindy Sheehan? John Kerry? Joe Biden? Jimmy Carter? Anyone want to take a stab at it? I thought not.

And of course they won’t address such concerns because to them if we just appease our enemies, they’ll go away. We don’t hurt them, and they won’t hurt us. Really? Can any of these idiots show me where we warranted being a target, other than our way of life? This war has been going on since the late 1970s. Islamofascism has been around that long, and even longer. But in 1979, it came a-knocking on our door. Then, we wilted. We wilted under the loss of 241 Marines in Beirut. We shirked all concern while American tourists and servicemen were targeted an killed throughout the 1990s. 11 September happened, and thank God we had a president that wasn’t going to turn away from his duty to protect and defend this nation. Had we not had such a president, we may have ended up seeing much more violence.

Osama bin Laden now knows that we’re not the paper tiger Pres. Clinton made us out to be. The disastrous fiasco in Somalia where we–the United States–had to go to the UN forces there with our hat in our hands, and ask for their help to save our soldiers stranded on the streets was preposterous, and Pres. Clinton should be reminded of that on a daily basis; your stupidity and foolishness with our troops cost 18 good men. His dithering and dawdling, his refusal to meet our enemies head-on led to the deaths of almost 3000 American lives on 11 September. And the world has seen what happens when this nation gets angry.

But unlike the insurgents in Iraq, we didn’t take it out on them. They’re not our enemy. Those in charge–the powers-that-be–were our enemies. Their cowardly attack served as the first domino falling in ending their lives. And it’s ending that archaic viewpoint in the region as well, so long as Afghanistan and Iraq maintain themselves. And the dominoes continue to fall. Egyptian woman can now vote there. Saudi Arabia is still contemplating that matter, as well.

So, as we remember the Iraqi people, and their first true, steps to independence, we must remember that which has come before us–as lessons of the past left unheeded seals our fate to not learn them–and what is yet to come–as the Middle East learns that man’s most natural state is to be free. We didn’t set out in this new millennium to do this, but we were left with little choice. We responded, and because we did fifty million people are free from oppression and are getting a fresh start in two countries. It’s amazing that it was accomplished. It’s not amazing that the people have reacted the way they did, including during their elections and the approval of their respective Constitutions; that was virtually guaranteed. People desire to be free. We respect the fact that governments must rule. There must be order. Without order, we have anarchy; a survival of the fittest attitude. That may appeal to some, but I can’t grasp the concept.

And neither can the Iraqis. They approved their new order, and they’ll fight for it. That’s all that matters right now.

Publius II