Have we forgotten why we went into Iraq?

As anyone can see by my posts, I have a rather big mouth and have no problem sharing my opinions with anyone who will listen as well as those who would rather not. Sometimes I share these in our local paper via letters to the editor. A post towards the end of March remembering that gassing of the Kurds in 1988 was one such letter.

At times, local folks respond with their thoughts on my letters and I usually just read them, listen to what they say and let it go. However, recently a gentleman responded by comparing America to Nazi Germany, deriding our decision to invade Iraq and declared the for the good of the troops and for their honor we should leave Iraq immediately. It is obvious that he had forgotten many events that had happened, starting in August 1990, that have brought us to today. I took some time to remind him.

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A bit of truth about the Iraq War

As anyone can clearly see in my letters to the editor, I am a person of strong opinion. My purpose for sharing my thoughts is simply to spark debate in the community and to get folks to think about the many issues facing our nation, especially in an election year.

And, usually, I simply read the responses or talk to folks who come up to me and chat about something I have written. Seldom do I feel any need to respond directly to a fellow letter writer. In Mr. Nelson’s case however, I feel the need make an exception.

Mr. Nelson seems to have conveniently forgotten the numerous events leading up to our invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Perhaps he should revisit the month of August 1990 when Saddam seized Kuwait. This was a brutal and unprovoked attack with the sole intent of subjugating the Kuwaiti people and stealing their resources. To let this stand would have thrown the entire region into chaos and the US led a global coalition to eject Saddam.

The first Gulf War ended in February 1991 and a number of expectations were placed on Saddam. A major condition was his elimination of existing WMDs and their manufacturing capabilities. As much as Mr. Nelson would like to ignore Saddam’s WMD program, UN documents describe the discovery and destruction of thousands of rounds of chemical weapons including sarin and mustard gas. UN reviews of Iraqi manufacturing records clearly found large discrepancies between the number of rounds found or accounted for and the number manufactured, something Saddam refused to address right up to his ejection of all UN inspectors in 1998. Large stores of raw nuclear product were also found after our 2003 invasion with the US removing over 500 tons of yellowcake and 2400 pounds of lightly enriched uranium. Saddam clearly had existing stores of WMDs. Perhaps a better question to ask would be “Where did they go?” during our 16 month run up to our invasion.

An additional condition of our cease fire with Saddam was that he was to leave the Kurds of the North and the salt-marsh Arabs of the south in peace. This he clearly ignored with a broad purge of the salt-marsh Arabs resulting in an estimated 100,000 dead – a direct result of our broken promise to protect them after Gulf War I. As a result we established no-fly zones in both the Kurd north and the south. For over 10 years US forces enforced these restrictions including the Air Guard units of Iowa.

During the period from February 1991 to March 2003, Saddam broke or ignored 17 UN resolutions. Perhaps Mr. Nelson would care to remember the final “straw”, Saddam’s refusal to accept the conditions of UN resolution 1441. This document came after nearly a year of evaluation, diplomatic efforts and pleas on the part of many countries that Saddam reinstate the inspectors he had ejected in 1998, allow “complete and unfettered access” to all facilities and to provide a full accounting of all WMDs. Perhaps he could review the reports to the Security Council by Hans Blix in December 2002 and early March 2003 detailing Saddam’s utter failure to address any of the UN’s concerns. UN 1441 passed the Security Council unanimously with all 15 members voting in favor of the resolution which set a clear deadline of 45 days to submit.

As for the congress’s participation in this, their Authorization of Use of Force of October 2002 passed both the House and Senate overwhelmingly. The United States and the President clearly filled all the squares for our entry into Iraq in March 2003 as much as Mr. Nelson would like to ignore that fact. The one person that could have stopped it was the same person who started it – Saddam - by simply bending to the will of the world.

My next disagreement with Mr. Nelson is the comparison of our country and our military to that of the German Wehrmacht of WWII. I have had the distinct honor to listen to WWII vets during some of our VFW meetings and through participating with them on panels at our local high school on Veterans Day. To listen to one vet’s description of freeing an extermination camp in Europe and another’s description of walking through one of the nuclear craters in Japan is a truly humbling experience. I suspect they may not see the US and the US military of March 2003 in the same light as Mr. Nelson. As an American and a 21 year veteran, I find his comparison distasteful to say the very least. In fact in a rather odd twist in Mr. Nelson’s article while describing Saddam’s Baathist regime as vicious he failed to note that it was founded in 1940 on the principles of the Nazi party. In fact, Saddam’s uncle led a revolt against British forces in Iraq in 1941 and requested military support from Germany. Perhaps Saddam would fit the Nazi mold better than our US forces.

As for Iraq’s threat to the US, I believe that during the run up to the March 2003 invasion, the only politician to call Iraq an “imminent threat” was John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia. President Bush’s primary contention was clearly stated as Saddam’s continued 10 year rejection of the demands and expectations of the UN and the Security Council. But, to ignore Saddam’s support of suicide bombers in the Mideast at the rate of $25,000 per bombing, to ignore his training bases, to ignore his support for terrorists on the run including Abu Nidal who was responsible for hundreds of deaths throughout Europe is simply wrong. These people and organizations clearly were a threat to the civilized world including Americans.

As for Saddam’s participation in 9/11, I don’t believe the Bush administration ever said such a thing. However, a review of the 9/11 report clearly shows Saddam provided some level of logistical support and training and that Muhammad Atta met with Iraqi security people in Prague prior to the attacks.

Finally, as for delivering the Iraqi people into a “sheer hell of madness and mayhem”, perhaps Mr. Nelson should spend a bit of time researching the Iraq of Saddam. According to the Documental Centre for Human Rights Saddam executed over 600,000 people. This does not include those killed in his various purges of the Kurds and salt-water Arabs nor does it include the 800,000 Iraqi and Iranian soldiers killed in the Iraq/Iran war. While the loss of a single life is a tragedy, the website iraqbodycount.org estimates that in our 5 years in Iraq an estimated 82,000 to 90,000 civilians have been killed. The vast majority of these were not killed by US soldiers, but by insurgents intent on shattering Iraq. Regardless, the Iraqi people are clearly under less threat today than during the reign of Saddam.

And, as for the health of the country, a few facts: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates 2008 will see a 7 percent growth in their economy. Iraq has paid their entire $470 million debt to the IMF and they were approved for a $720 million dollar line of credit in December. More than 2 million barrels of oil are being pumped every day, exceeding pre-war levels. Total inflation has fallen by 60 percent to a 5 percent level. Over 30,000 businesses have opened in the last 2 years. Cell phones and satellite dishes cover a landscape where an information vacuum once existed. Blogs by Iraqi people fill the internet with their hopes, dreams and their thanks. Political progress, while slow, is steady. Agreements have been struck regarding oil sharing, regional elections, and reinstatement of former Baathist members to name just a few.

But, to paint Iraq with the broad brush of “sheer hell of madness and mayhem” shows a tremendous lack of respect of the Iraqi people and of our military forces who risk their lives every day to give these folks a chance for the peace and freedom everyone wants for themselves and their children.

So Mr. Nelson, I respectfully disagree. Iraq is not near the quagmire so many Democrats and liberals wish it was. And the best way to honor our soldiers is by standing by them and letting them finish what we as a nation asked them to embark upon rather that looking at them and saying that their sacrifices, their family’s sacrifices, the sacrifices of those who have lost their lives or have been wounded have been for naught.