Latest defense

12/01/05

There are some out there that think the MJD is at war against the leftist or Democrats and that most people can see through Bush's lies. It would be a lot easier to understand that point if they ever offered any evidence that Bush lied. All you do is point to conservatives and say Bush Lied--Thousands died. Then your defense of it says that it is obvious that Bush lied. Yeah? Check the dictionary for the definition of lie. It includes intent to deceive or deliberate falsehood. Show me one. Simply saying something over and over again is not proof.

There are those that say that there can be no good outcome from the war. Not true. There has been a good outcome already. Saddam Hussein is not longer able to torture, rape and execute the 27 million Iraqis he once held complete power over. Instead, he is on trial for his life in a at least partially fair court.

I think it may be true that whenever we leave Iraq it may degenerate to civil war but we are currently engaged in a great experiment to see if it is possible to generate a democratic form of government where an autocracy once existed. That has never been done before. Oh yes, I forgot about the little country called the United States of America. Or maybe France. The transition in France wasn't pretty there but it worked. Italy, Japan, and even Afghanistan had little or no experience with democratic forms of government before they had civil war or had it imposed after losing a war. None of the changeovers happened peacefully within 2 years.

I think that the Iraqis have at least the potential to work out a government that is pluralistic in nature and possibly even democratic. I don't have a crystal ball but the alternative is not very pleasant.

Picking up and leaving is obviously not an option. I think the President has stated, sometimes poorly, that we have to stay the course. What the means is that we removed Saddam and we stay until there is a chance of government working and then leave. I think that is the best we can do now. The War on Terror is continuing and will continue for a long time. I hope to live to see the end of it some day but don't think I will. Hope springs eternal.