Why I Support the War in Iraq

December 6, 2005

This was originally an email to someone about some online news articles about Saddam having ties to Al Qaeda. He said that he didn't feel the articles were proof. Here is what I told him:

I agree with you that none of the articles I gave you, at least not individually, are definitive proof. However, some of this is testimony being given in a court of law, and that must meet high standards of proof or it will be thrown out. I am aware that our government has information about the connections with terrorism that cannot be revealed at the present time for security reasons. I also have some sources of information that are not available to the general public, and I am not able to talk about them. We really don't have a right to endanger our efforts to destroy terrorism by satisfying people's curiosity. I realize that as voters, we need to know what is going on, but that doesn't mean we have a right to jeopardize innocent human beings in the process, so a balance must be achieved.

As for Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Lebanon, etc., yes, there are terrorist connections in this country that are more obvious. That doesn't mean that we should treat them in the same way as Iraq. Iraq did something none of the others did: it aggressed on its neighbors. It actually occupied Kuwait. We can deal successfully with all of the above countries by doing whatever works best in each. In the case of Iraq, we had no choice but to depose Saddam. I am amazed that we did it with as little loss of life as we did, and gratified. In other countries that are still cooperating with us and being willing to take steps away from terrorism, it would be undesirable to depose the current leadership.

Here is something I got in my email today, and I think it pretty much explains why we needed to take out Saddam:

The other day, my nine year old son wanted to know why we were at war. My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend our country again today. I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation.

My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in our front living room window.

He told him: "Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"
"I see trees and cars and our neighbors houses" he replied.
"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United States of America and you are President Bush."
Our son giggled and said "OK."

"Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house and yard on this block is a different country" my husband said.

"OK Dad, I'm pretending."

"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and see that man come out of his house with his wife and he has her by the hair and is hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death. Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and afraid of their father. You see all of this ok....What do you do?"

"Dad?"

"What do you do son?"

"I call the police, Dad."

"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations and they take your call, listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What do you do then son?"

"Dad, but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to whine.

"They don't want to son, because they say that it is not their place or your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it," my husband says.

"But Dad...he killed her!!" my son exclaims.

"I know he did...but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his children."

"Daddy...he kills them?"

"Yes, son, he does. What do you do?"

"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door neighbor to help me stop him." Our son says.

"Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my husband says.

"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"

"WHAT DO YOU DO SON?"

Our son starts to cry.

"OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask for help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next son?"

"What Daddy?"

"He walks across the street to the old ladies house and breaks down her door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire and then...he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in the window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?!!!"

"Daddy..."

"WHAT DO YOU DO?!!!"

Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I close the blinds, Daddy."

My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him... "Why?"

"Because Daddy.....the police are supposed to help...people who needs it....and they won't help....You always say that neighbors are supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either...they won't help me stop him...I'm afraid....I can't do it by myself...Daddy.....I can't look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible things and...and.....do nothing...so....I'm just going to close the blinds....so I can't see what he's doing........and I'm going to pretend that it is not happening."

I start to cry.

My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husbands questions and he tells him...."Son,"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Open the blinds because that man....he's at your front door..."WHAT DO YOU DO?!!!!"

My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up this tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, without hesitation he says: "I DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM!!!!!"

I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs my son to his chest and hugs him tight, and cries..."It's too late to fight him, he's too strong and he's already at YOUR front door son.....you should have stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife. You have to do what's right, even if you have to do it alone, before......it's too late." My husband whispers.

THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq.

When good men stand by and let evil happen is the greatest EVIL of all.

Our President is doing what is right. We, as a free nation, must understand that this war is a war of humanity. WE must remove this evil man from power so that we can continue to live in a free world where we are not afraid to look out our window and see crimes on humanity. So that my nine year old son won't grow up in a world where he feels that if he just "closes" that blinds the atrocities in the world won't affect him.

"YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT! EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALONE!"
BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!
BE PROUD OF OUR PRESIDENT!
BE PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!!
SUPPORT THEM!!!
SUPPORT AMERICA!!
SO THAT IN THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS...."

End of email.

The bottom line for me is that Saddam is a reincarnation of Hitler. We ignored Hitler for far too long. Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. We chose not to forget.

In the final analysis, it really doesn't matter whether we definitively prove one piece of the puzzle, i.e. that Saddam has ties to Al Qaeda, or that he has chemical weapons, or that he has killed hundreds of thousands of his own subjects. The important thing is that we know he was a tyrant, a cruel and evil man, and he was destroying people and resources out of sheer spite. I don't care if he has ties to Al Qaeda. I care that he has ties to terrorism. I don't care whether he has chemical weapons. He had unbelievable arsenals of conventional weapons that he was using against innocent people, and he has had chemical weapons in the past, and retains the facilities to make more. I don't care whether he directly attacked our nation or not. He is part and parcel of the worldview that did, and if given the opportunity, he would not hesitate to do so in the future. Can we afford to wait until he does? I do not think so. I think that we had a duty to take him out. And for me, that's the end of the argument.

For that reason, I find the things you are saying against the war to be repugnant. I can only stomach so much of them. I know that the information that underlies these things is a pack of lies, being promoted by people who wish to destroy our freedom. People are being unbelievably gullible. They won't accept the information in the links I gave you, but they will accept the say-so of people who are known to oppose liberty. All I ever ask is that people apply the same standard to everyone: don't accept the lies just because they are agreeable. Question them just as much as you question the information I gave you. Otherwise, you become gullible as well.

And isn't the sole legitimate purpose of government to protect us from aggression and fraud? And didn't we experience aggression on 9/11? And having experienced aggression, doesn't the government have a duty to make sure it never happens again? Can you give me definitive proof that Saddam never would have sent his chemical weapons here for the use of terrorists? Do you really trust Saddam not to do so? I never did. We should have taken him out the first time. But we listened to the UN, and we all know the UN is for one world government, and how tyrannical that would be. The bottom line is that we have only two choices: watch Saddam destroy his neighbors and then come for us, or take him out. What was it Martin Niemoller said? He said, "They came first for the Communists, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Catholics...but I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no-one left to speak up for me." Our mistake during WWII was waiting to take out Hitler. We made that mistake again in Gulf War I. It was time to stop making mistakes. The evidence in the aggregate is overwhelming. So just because you aren't convinced of a small part of it really doesn't influence me, because I am looking at the entire picture. Saddam was an evil man who destroyed hundreds of thousands. He needed to be stopped. It's that simple. I am just glad we had the resources and the balls to do it.

Now let me tell you one final thing: one of our sons is in Iraq. He is doing what he needs to do, and we both support him 100%. That makes it pretty personal for me. In addition, our son and I both have a second degree black belt in taekwondo. Every class, we take an oath. That oath says, "I shall observe the tenets of taekwondo. I shall respect instructors and seniors. I shall never misuse taekwondo. I shall be a champion of freedom and justice. I shall build a more peaceful world." The tenets are, "Courtesy, integrity, perseverence, self-control, indomitable spirit, victory". How can one use a deadly fighting skill to be a champion of freedom and justice and build a more peaceful world? By deterrence. If making it known that I can use deadly force to defend innocent people doesn't work, then the next level of deterrence is to use my skills. My body is a deadly weapon. If I see a man killing his wife, I WILL intervene. I won't bother to wait for the police. What I would be doing is protected under the justification statutes: I am legally permitted to use deadly force to protect an innocent human being from aggression. It's that simple. As a result, even though I have done my analysis with sheer reason, it is much more than mere reason for me. It embraces my life and my outlook completely.

To see an essay which includes an eyewitness account of the situation in Iraq, with hundreds of pictures, go here:

The Truth about Iraq.