My Generation

The “Peace and Love” generation prides itself on stopping the Vietnam War and wish to “stop” the war in Iraq. Unfortunately you don’t stop a war without granting victory to the other side. Usually. Since Iraq is but one battlefield in the WOT we won’t even stop the war, just grant a victory to Iran and Al Qaeda. This is not my father’s Congress. The greatest generation may not be the kids who fought in WWII but rather the Americans at home who sacrificed tremendously to support their kids at war.

Would we be better off had we not invaded Iraq? It was not the cakewalk we thought it would be when everyone was for it, including most Democrats, but if we had not taken out Saddam what would the situation be today? First, we were concerned Iraq had chemical and biological weapons and may have been close to getting nukes. You don’t have to use a WMD; usually having one is enough to make you a major player. Everyone thought Saddam had WMDs; we would still think so today and act accordingly. Qusay and Uday would still be terrorizing Baghdad and the vast Baathist organization would still be terrorizing Iraq. I for one wonder how much longer we would have enforced the no-fly zone, especially when our pilots were being fired on by Saddam? Once that protection was dropped how long would the Kurds have held out? The Oil for Food scandal would have continued to line UN pockets up until the sanctions, largely ignored by our NATO allies anyway, were lifted. Once the sanctions were lifted guess what? According to the much ballyhooed 911 Report Saddam would have been ready to reactivate his WMD research, including Nukes.

One complaint I hear is that because we are bogged down in Iraq we can’t effectively deal with Iran. Put aside the fact that many making that argument are ready and willing to hand Iran a victory in Iraq, we can effectively deal with Iran had we the will. It would require one thing from the American people, sacrifice. A blockade of Iran would strangle an already shaky Mullah economy. It would mean higher gas prices, a sacrifice we would have to bear for our future security. One we are not willing to make. I come to think I have also found why many Americans are ready to abandon the Iraqis. Despite the fact that insurgencies usually take ten or more years to deal with and that we are slowly making progress, despite the fact that casualties are amazingly light, despite the fact that there is no rationing, shortages, or appeals to buy war bonds, we are ready to quit. Why? Because it’s costing us money.