What do you think of the current conflict in Iraq?

[Sgt Sostand]

1. Remove Huessien now using military force.
2. Continue UN inspections.
3. Kill Huessein then stop US foreign aid to France and Germany.
4. Put a UN peacekeeping force long term.
5. Continue UN inspections.
6. Attack Iraq and insert a democratic government.

[sendinghome]

As one who grew up in the military and served as a Marine infantry officer, without seeing combat, during the Viet Nam era, I remember well the demands for peace and how my fellow officers and I grappled with our personal assessment of the issues.

I remember well sitting in the Pearl Harbor Officer’s club with a dozen officers, two thirds of them who had fought, six wounded, all having earned medals for bravery and all had sent and led men to their deaths in that conflict. I remember well their looks when it was announced that Saigon had fallen. They had obeyed; men had died – had they been right?

I remember well the feelings over the past two decades when reading one revelation after another from Nixon, McNamara, Westmoreland – men had made mistakes and the country has paid a terrible price – beyond the Names on the Wall.

They remember these things – those who are leading us now and they saw part of the agony assuaged in Desert Storm by having a professional military allowed to execute a clearly justifiable mission without undue political influence. They say they won’t repeat the mistakes.

My son sits in the sand somewhere over there today leading a platoon of Marines, all of them ready to obey. I find myself watching the demonstrators. These sons and daughters of those who taunted my fellow marines and me are again saying -- peace at any price, anything rather than war. Is this more Viet Nam or Desert Storm?

Is this a cowboy finishing his father’s job or is it as the signs say, just about oil? Is my son’s life and those of his marines just the political chips of a swaggering bully?

These are questions that need to be answered. But rather than slogans and philosophies, if my son’s life, and the lives of 250,000 sons, daughters, fathers and mothers are going to be put on the line, I want to know the facts. As I understand them, they include the following:

Saddam Hussein is the only sitting national leader today that has used weapons of mass destruction not only on his enemies but on his own people as well.

He launched a war in 1980 that lasted 8 years and cost 1.5 million war-related casualties. He used WMD on numerous occasions in that war.

Only two years after peace in that pointless war, he invaded Kuwait. During this war he had contingency plans to use WMD not only on troops but also on Israel and other nations. He didn’t use them out of moral restraint but out of abject fear – created by an overwhelming military force.

In leaving Kuwait he purposely and pointlessly blew up dozens of wells, causing significant environmental damage.

Historians believe both wars were fundamentally launched because of Hussein’s “miscalculations”, although his personal bodyguard executed 5 generals on Hussein’s orders when they came to report the retreat from Kuwait.

He admitted in specific written detailed reports, to the UN, to spending billions to create the capacity for and the actual creation of huge stocks of chemical and biological weapons and the pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability.

He agreed to destroy those weapons. Israel had to blow up an Iraqi nuclear facility on its own in 1981 or he may well have had an entirely different capability in Kuwait.

He ran out the UN before proving he had done so and we allowed him to ignore the UN.

He has provided no evidence of the elimination of these weapons and production capabilities.

He has had 10 years and $20,000,000,000 a year and the best engineering minds money can buy to figure out how to hide those weapons in a closed society with a land area as big as California, much of it unoccupied.

He is “cooperating” now and only because of unrelenting pressure. Nonetheless, if 20 years and 20,000 inspectors would save bloodshed, that is preferable. But it is not practical or possible with such as Hussein.

He has proven he is willing to assassinate, torture, invade and violate every international law and convention.

The public does not know if he is connected to Al Quaeda, but we know he detest the west and wishes us defeated. We know that with only one more simple “miscalculation” this man has the weapons and the willingness to use them or to provide them to others seeking to cause not thousands but millions of casualties.

We sit around and cluck our tongues at the failed leadership that brought us Munich, Pearl Harbor, the USS Cole and even 9-11. We must recognize it was leadership that brought about those and dozens of other 20th century disasters – the leadership and vision of our enemies. It was also leadership that destroyed the nuclear facilities in 1981.

We are seeing that rare exhibition of leadership in anticipation of disaster, in the face of blatant disregard for the lawful demands of the world. The price of such leadership is second-guessing and simplistic “blood for oil” slogans.

We all know that the president would have been hounded into obscurity if he had acted in August to close the airlines down to prevent 9-11 on the information he had. Many of those marching last weekend would have been the first to do so, criticizing the “cowboy”.

The greatest thing our first responders do to keep us safe is the situations they prevent from requiring a response at all, by preventing crime and fires.

The greatest thing a President can do is not to show leadership after a disaster but to show leadership in preventing one. By God’s grace, it appears we have one that seeks to do both.

I desperately hope that not a shot is fired in Iraq. I pray daily – several times a day -- that this menace to the world will be eliminated by bloodless means. The facts, though, seem to say we have to act, not wait to react. If anyone has any other valid perspective – based on facts, we need to hear them and hear them now.

And by the way, if as a by-product of getting rid of this threat to all we value means that my gasoline is a little cheaper or Bush can high-five his dad, more power to them.

[firstsgtmike]

"The greatest thing our first responders do to keep us safe is the situations they prevent from requiring a response at all, by preventing crime and fires.

The greatest thing a President can do is not to show leadership after a disaster but to show leadership in preventing one."

It's a sad fact of life, but the only people who get recognition for preventing conflicts and flareups are bartenders.

If he sees a discussion heading for dangerous ground, he wanders over, tells a joke or two, and steers the conversation onto another subject.

Generally, a "regular" sitting at the end of the bar will make a private comment to the bartender in recognition of his tact, and diplomacy, in defusing a potential situation.

Perhaps, the UN, NATO, SEATO, Congress, et al should hold their discussions in a "shot and a beer" standup bar.

It's just a thought, but I figured it was worth a shot.

[David Schultz]

If Huessien Had been delt with a long time ago then we would not be going to war.
Is it about weapons or oil?

[wrbones]

weapons


http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3986&highlight=Iraq


oil


http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3944&highlight=Iraq


run yer on site search engine using 'Iraq' Plaenty of info for your perusal.