Iraq: Let's Do The Job Right This Time

It seems to me one of the weaknesses of we American citizens is that we don't pay enough attention to the lessons of history, and I'm not talking about 100-year-old history; I'm talking about history that is just about one decade old and which most of us can remember well. One of the criticisms of the first Gulf War was that we did not stay long enough to get the job done. We pushed Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, but we left him to rule Iraq and punish any of his people who did not agree with him. Big mistake. We let the United Nations sign and enforce an agreement with him. He didn't live up to those agreements, and when the U. N. did nothing about it we did nothing about the U. N. doing nothing. Big mistake. The simple history of our victory in the first Gulf War, it seems to me, is that we ... the United States ... did not finish the job. As a result, we have had to fight the war again, and this time we at least have learned not to hand it over to the U. N.

But ... we also have a bunch of people here in America ... mostly anti-military liberals who opposed throwing Saddam out in the first place ... who are raising a ruckus to bring our troops home, right now, before they get hurt. Or they say the war costs too much and we should be spending that money on social programs. Or - again - they say turn it over to the U. N. They insist we shouldn't do anything unless all the nations are involved.

It seems to me our lesson of history, this time hardly 10 years old, says we should stay and do the job right this time. Otherwise, about 10 years from now we'll have to go back and do the job over a third time ... and by then they may be in position to use those weapons of mass destruction.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/8/174811