The Left will do anything to beat George W. Bush
Polaroids of Iraqi prisoners in various poses...nude and simulating sex acts...are making the rounds on all the news channels, and in diplomatic circles...like dirty pictures of a dirty secret. President Bush calls the abuses they depict, "abhorrent." His opponents and enemies say they are the tip of the iceberg...a cold, sharp mountain of failed policies and a sadistic military. Neither of these is the case.
At worst, these abuses amount to kids who didn't really know better trying to get some measure of revenge against men who they felt were fighting against them...even though American troops were only trying to bestow the blessings of liberty on their country. These soldiers, by and large, are likely good, law abiding men and women, who thought they were having a laugh. Closer scrutiny of these Iraqis shows none have been beaten, bruised, cut or mutilated. At worst...these men were merely humiliated.
Contrast these men's apparent condition with the 700+ dead Americans who gave their last, full measure to bring Iraqis a better life...free from the crushing yoke of tyranny wielded by Saddam Hessein. Contrast these men's apparent condition with the condition of the million+ dead left behind by Hussein...riddled with bullets, internal organs liquified through gas attacks, crushed and shredded into a bloody pulp because they dared to criticize the then-Iraqi dictator.
The United States is making a serious mistake in the pursuit of this conflict. While most comparisons to Viet Nam are specious...one is becomming more and more real: media coverage is forcing the military to fight with less than appropriate vigor. Americans are compassionate...War is ruthless. Had World War II been fought under the same media microscope being used in Iraq, tactics which were vital to victory would never have been implemented. The firebombings of Dresden and Tokyo...the clearing out Japanese pillboxes with flame throwers in the South Pacific...the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki...all these would not have happened and the bloodiest conflict in history would have lasted years longer and killed millions more had we not been willintg to totally crush our enemies.
A sharp knife cuts quickest and hurts least...the ruthless pursuit of war in the name of humanity is a virtue, not a vice. Though no one defends the actions in that Iraqi prison in and of themselves, war is fought by people and people are human...they make mistakes. Sometimes, men and women in war make dumb decisions. That is what happened here.
But, calls for resignations at the highest eschelons of America's military are unfair...they might even be called traitorous. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is an honorable man and would never condone or cover-up these abuses. Democrats, like Delaware Senator Joe Biden, are taking advantage of these isolated incidents to paint a picture of incompetence and corruption that threatens to shake our troops morale...something more important to our troops' survival than any equipment they use.
This war is winnable... but only if we are willing to do everything it takes to win. An enemy is never truly defeated until he knows he has been beaten. In World War II, Germany was ground to dust between the the collossal grindstones of the Allied and Red armies. A full-scale invasion of Japan was only avoided by using a weapon so terrible that the Japanese were thunderstruck into surrender. Even then, it took two atomic bombs to make that point.
Opponents of the war point to casualties and to the low-scale attrition which are wearing away at the morale anf fighting ability of our troops. They forget that post-World War II, Nazi's were a problem for years and we had to occupy Japan for more than 30 years to pacify the population. The American occupation of Germany continues to this day. Yet, the nationbuilding accomplished in both Europe and Asia during the Cold War resulted in both these defeated nations rising from their ashes, Phoenix-like, to become industrial and economic giants. Not to mention they are shining examples of Democracy...a form of government neither had experienced before.
Everyone agrees...mistakes were made at the Iraqi prison, and the American men and women who perpetrated these decidely "unamerican" acts are being punished...even as I write this. But it would be fatal to the war effort...fatal to Iraq's budding Democracy...and fatal to future U.S. interests to allow this scandal to balloon beyond it's true perameters. Democrats and those against the wart are looking to use any lever...at any cost...to pry George W. Bush out of the Presidency. For the sake of every man, woman and child who loves freedom...don't let them.