Note: This is part 4 of a six part series. Return to Part I
DISASTERS THE ADMINISTRATION AVOIDED
It is extraordinarily easy to look at the week or so of looting in parts of Baghdad, the growing incidence and media coverage of Zarqawi’s insurgency and the unfortunate loss of American heroes and say, “Oh my God. What a disaster! It’s a freakin’ nightmare.” Although the loss of any American life is tragic, this view, the view shared by most on the left, is overly simplistic and completely unfair.
This is war, not Tiddlywinks. Yes, the bombs and the beheadings get all of the press coverage. But the good news coming from Iraq fades just as quickly as it is first reported. And the doomsday warnings of a veritable slew of hyperventilating media experts before invading Iraq never materialized.
We heard of pending humanitarian disasters like mass starvation, disease and a refugee crisis the likes of which never before seen. We were warned of potential attacks on Israel, Turkey, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. We were warned of an impending war between the Kurds in the north and their tenuous neighbor Turkey. We heard the impending doom of urban warfare and thousands of dead Americans lining the streets of Baghdad because of our inability to fight in urban settings. Iraqis were going to destroy bridges and dams which would impede the American attack and drown hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
If people are going to crucify the Bush administration for failing to plan for a week or so of looting and Zarqawi’s insurgency, they should also give Bush credit for a superb plan which avoided hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths due to starvation and disease. Bush’s plan also avoided a refugee crisis of epoch proportions. These Monday morning quarterbacks should also credit Bush for a masterful plan to eliminate attacks on neighbors Israel, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Bush should also get credit for limiting attacks on Kuwait to just a couple of minor incidents. The Bush administration should be credited for their artful diplomacy between the Kurds and Turkey. Americans should be thankful that Bush’s military leaders properly planned for and trained for urban warfare, avoiding the thousands of deaths in the streets of Baghdad that were predicted. And Bush should be praised for the plan that kept dams and bridges from being destroyed, avoiding a massive human tragedy.
Yes, absolutely right.
After giving the President proper credit for the operation’s success, people should emphatically thank a soldier…
Buy them a beer, buy them dinner, pay their utility bill, whatever. They have sacrificed much, and have accomplished great deeds.
Too much of the criticism of the President also serves to discredit our troops and those working for homeland security. It is truly an outrage.
Imagine God, the creator of all life, looking down upon Iraq…
Is God pleased? Does God think: “This is the result of someone doing my work“?
War is Hell.
This War was unnecessary.
Someone chose to create Hell.
Others cheered him on.
Hell is the opposite of Heaven.
Heaven is God’s domain.
Whom do you support?
The creator of Hell?
or
The creator of Heaven?
When you find yourself in a Hell…
QUIT DIGGING.
LJD-
After my return from Iraq last year, many Americans DID thank me in the small ways you suggest. There was my double-scotch paid for by some businessman at the airport bar after he recognized my dress cap hanging off the back of my carry-on luggage (Not advertising, just didn’t want it crushed by baggage handlers,) the nods and smiles when I’d walk along the street in uniform, the free in-flight booze my wife received once the attendant cought a glimpse of the military ID in her wallet, and the coup de grace (if you’ll pardon my French 😉 was the free steak dinner my wife and I received at Longhorn’s in our hometown of Louisville, KY after I’d finished my enlistment.
Many of my fellow Marines describe similar occurances.
To all those strangers who took it upon yourselves to bolster MY morale when it mattered most, I pledge that I will FOREVER do the same for our current active duty members. God bless you all.
Note to AnonyMoses
If “god” was doing his job Saddam wouldn’t have needed taking out.
Hi:
God was doing His job…….he sent in the USA. He always works through people and sometimes they just aren’t interested!
Louise Wilson
Hastings, Florida