The left typically asks: “What is the connection between Iraq and 9/11?” Here is my answer:
No connection needed.
After 9/11 the rules of the game changed. What was once tolerable, is now intolerable.
Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was the equivalent of the crack house in the middle of the neighborhood that people just tried to ignore. But then… Maybe it wasn’t Saddam’s crack dealers that broke into your house and murdered your wife and kids, but guess what, you are no longer going to tolerate those low lives anymore.
That means you go and take care of it, because it is what has to be done.
Yeah, there are going to be some messy points in that effort, but IN THE END, you are striving for a more peaceful neighborhood.
Some relevant points:
– Gulf War One ended with a Cease-Fire, meaning it was NOT over. It was a “Timeout”. When a cease-fire is broken by one side, there need be NO justifications for the other side to resume hostilities as they have, by definition, already been resumed.
– On average at least once a day during Operation Northern Watch and Southern Watch, Saddams’s military placed anti-aircraft assets into forbidden zones in VIOLATION of that cease-fire and then engaged Coalition pilots.
Soundbite version: Iraqi troops fired upon or threatened to fire upon U.S. pilots on a DAILY basis, thereby violating the cease-fire from 1991.
– Thankfully for the pilots training and our advanced technology, no pilots were lost, even though Saddam placed bounties for capturing American pilots.
I’m hoping no one will seriously advocate a position that demurs on taking action when our people in the US military are continually threatened and attacked by those who have a clear history of aggression, chemical weapons usage and support of terrorist organizations.
Or is it the position of the AntiWar Left that that is ok?